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"Unreasoning acceptance is the most baleful hindrance to reform. He 
who believes all that his elders teach, without the consent of his more mod- 
ern mind, unconsciously admits that the world is at a standstill. 

Every step ahead in history has been made by those who would not 
agree with sanctioned dogma. Galileo would not believe the world stood 
still, Columbus did not believe that it was flat. In spite of sainted mothers 
and venerable sires, we do not now favor their pet theory." 

From "Searching for truth." 



SF4f1 

.V 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 


Two Copies 


Received 


JAN 15 


1903 


Copyright 
CLASS ^ 


Entry 
XXc. No. 


4-tr "i- 

COPY 


8" -W 
A, 1 



THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

TO THE 
THOUGHTFUL READER, 



"The advent of Trap Nests has been the means of more good in Poultry 
culture than any other invention of recent years. They are the only guides 
to success." Boyer. 



NOTICE TO EDITORS, PUBLISHERS, AND WRITERS 
FOR THE POULTRY PRESS, 



It is the author's desire that whatever there may be of value in this 
work should be as widely known to poultry keepers as is possibly con- 
sistent with my business interests, 1 to be the sole judge of that. 

Xhe original matter, other than that directly connected with the 
construction of the Ideal nests, is covered by copyright solely to guard 
against the detestable practice of plagiary that is so common in poultry 
and other literature and in some poultry supply catalogues. 

While I should prefer that those who desire to quote from this book 
ask my permission, 1 realize that when brief reference is desirable this 
is not always convenient. In such cases, whether the accompanying- 
opinions are favorable or unfavorable, I respectfully request that credit 
be given to The Trap Nest Text Book by F. O. Wellcome. 

Matter in this book not original with me and not written expressly 
for the book is not covered by my copyright. 

Respectfully, 

F. O. Wellcome. 



The Man Whose Watchword's "Wait" 

Roy Farrell Greene. 



From Success." Used by express permission of the Success Company, 
owners of copyright. 

"Great deeds", said Uncle Hiram, "I've ob- 
served, 'tween me 'an you, 
For every man that does 'em there are tenagoin' 

to do; 
There's lots o' men can sit aroun' an' entertain a 

crowd 
With how they're goin' t' plant a field they've 

likely never plowed: 
Bill Jones was such a feller, 'an I used t' hear 

him tell 
Of a scheme he had fer killin' weeds that sounded 

mighty well; 
Machinery could do the work, — a man need 

never sweat, — 
But I find that William has'nt set the world afire 

yet. 

"When Simpson's boy from college came, the 

fam'ly prophesied, 
Within a year or two, the world would view him 

open-eyed. 
And marvel at the wonders of improvement he'd 

advance 
In scientific methods, if he had but half a chance. 
He stayed around the town awhile an' worked 

quite hard, I jinks, 
At poundin' little rubber balls o'er what he 

called 'the links.' 
We've scientific problems still that make pro- 
fessors fret, 
But I note young Simpson has'nt set the world 

afire yet! 

" An' so," said Uncle Hiram, "future action does 

not count 
Toward betterin' of our present state to any great 

amount; 
A million 'goin'-t'-do-its' wouldn't balance one 

'has-done,' 
An' a pound of 'right-this-tninute' 's worth 'to- 
morrow's' half a ton. 
I've noticed in my lifetime scores of fellers, sad 

to state, 
Who'd have prospered if they had'nt for their 

watchword taken 'Wait;' 
Fellers sure to do great wonders ere the next 

day's sun had set, — 
But I've noticed none of them has set the world 

afire yet!" 



PREFACE. 



IN this book I want 1<> have a heart-to-heart talk with the Thoughtful 
Reader. I have the advantage that I can talk all of the time and 
the reader cannot talk back. The reader has the advantage that 
he can "cut me out" at any time, if he become bored. I shall not try 
to exhaust my subject or vocabulary and do not wish to exhaust the 
reader. 

I am not talking- to the novice all of the time, I am talking to the 
render whoever he may be. There are some things in this book that I 
am sure some people do not want the novice in poultry keeping to 
know. T do want him to know them. That is the difference. 
The reader is for the nonce my friend and I propose to let him in on 
the ground floor. If he does not like it he can move out. 

We poultry raisers are a free-and-easy lot. We can talk glibly on 
any subject whether we know anything about it or not. 

Guessing counts and those who guess the nearest alike guess the 
oftenest. A plausible guess is contagious and we are now apparently 
enjoying a sort of guessing epidemic. Down South we don't guess so 
much but "I reckon" is the same disease modified by environment. 

It saves a great deal of trouble and worry to be able to guess freely 
and often. "Of the making of many books there is no end and much 
study is a weariness to the flesh." Guessing saves study. When it 
causes weariness it is when it makes someone else tired. 

Guessing promotes economy. Should we suspect that our hens are 
not as good as any, we can guess that they are better and so save 
buying new blood. We never guess that what costs nothing is well 
worth it for that would not be a practical guess. Guessing courage- 
ously and without too many unpractical, unbusiness-like scruples will 
increase our egg yield fifty per cent. 

This form of guessing antedates the flood. It will never be stamped 
out. It thrives best in warm weather but survives the most frigid cold. 
If we guess ourselves out of the hen business we can guess about for- 
mer egg records The longer we keep it up the bigger they grow. 

If we rupture a heart string, and spend money Ave can guess that we 
will be swindled and after the goods come we can guess that we have 
been; and so it goes, this merry guessing bee. We could not stop it 
if Ave would and some of us would not stop it if Ave could. 

The reader is beginning to guess iioav and Avhen he has read this 
book he will guess again. A\ r e simply cannot help it. We have all 
got the complaint; some have it worse than others, that is all. 



6 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

There are several theories touched upon, some of them briefly dis- 
cussed, in this modest little book. While I regard good theory to be 
better than bad practice, for any student, still I appreciate that 
unproven theories should be approached cautiously. 

The test of time must be applied to every new theory as well as to 
every old theory that has been brushed up and offered once more. 
The old veteran will see them through. However firmly I may hold 
to certain views outlined herein, I do not expect others to wholly or 
even partially agree with me unless their own convictions will permit . 
My business interests have not, to my knowledge, had the most remote 
influence upon my opinions. I think some things that I have written 
may be opposed to my interests but I rather like to give my pen the 
right of way and let it go. 

I am not a mind reader so the man who "always knew that" will 
not be given credit for such of his "original ideas" as I may have used. 
I give credit wherever I knoAV that credit is due and hold the rest in 
trust for the owner who succeeds in proving his claim . The first per- 
son singular will be used quite frequently without regard to precedent 
or contemporary opinion. There are but one of us and I am he, in this 
book. 

Should the reader meet with anything that he does not like, a little 
skipping will discover something different. Our human nature is such 
that we applaud what others applaud, or what agrees with our present 
convictions, and condemn the rest. 

If we are all right, then poultry knowledge is the most paradoxically 
mixed up mess of modern times. 

My instructions for preparing and using the Ideal Trap Nests and 
the drawings that illustrate them are as simple and as easily to be 
understood as I know how to make them. Brevity is said to be the soul 
of wit but contemporary poultry literature shows that accuracy of 
statement can be very easily sacrificed to brevity. I am not one of 
those who believe that "all there is to know" about poultry raising, 
for profit or anything else, can be couched in language so simple that a 
child can understand. 

I have tried to avoid unnecessary conplication in my choice of a not 
very large number of words in expressing a few of my ideas in regard 
to a part of what there is to know. A quart of milk cannot be deliv- 
ered without a suitable vessel to put it in. I am dependent upon the 
Thoughtful Reader for an understanding, on his part, of what I have 
to say. 

This book is not designed to be au encyclopedia of poultry wisdom. 
There are books that claim to be. There are many things connected 
with poultry keeping of which I shall say nothing. It is of no conse- 
quence to the reader how much or little regarding those things I may or 



THE TKAP NEST TEXT BOOK < 

may not know. Suffice it to say that it is considerable, both ways. 

The Poultry Press, long may it live and prosper, make a business of 
arving both genera] and specific instruction in poultry culture. Some 
of this instruction is from competent sources and is reliable, some of it 
we will not discuss here. There are a number of good poultry papers 
and I have no doubt that there would be more if Mr. Edward C. 
Madden of Washington, D. C. kept hens and realized the importance of 
promoting the poultry business in all of its legitimate branches. May 
he never get a stale egg in his Tom-and-Jerry. 

This is a special book issued for a specific purpose. Primarily to 
show how to make and use the Ideal Trap Nest under a license con- 
trolled by my patents. 

I have thought best to include a discussion of several subjects, some 
of them intimately and others remotely connected with the use of trap 
nests. 

These articles have been written at different times and we feel differ- 
ently at different times. I am sorry that photographs of my feel- 
ings at different times were not ready in time to have cuts made. 
What may seem to be a strange intermingling of seriousness and 
foolishness in some places, is easily accounted for. When a 
man begins to read up "the reason why chicks die in the shell" 
and gets to the point Avhere he is asked to consider if the hen does 
not feed the chick through the shell, hence it starves to death in 
the incubator, he must move slowly. When his manly brow begins to 
throb and what appears to be the unquestionable fact that freshly- 
fertilized eggs are more likely to hatch well in a well-operated incuba- 
tor than under the average sitting hen conies in to perplex, it is well 
to unbend and indulge in a little harmless frivolity. This takes off the 
strain and he can more safely take up the latest "Law of Sex." If the 
house cat happens to be a female she wall be a good subject for ex- 
periment. An\' rule that will work with her will also work in the 
poultry yard. When a youth I spent a short time each year, for sev- 
eral years, on the peaceful shores of Lake Winnepesaukee but I failed 
to note that a quiet and contented mode of life and absence of friction 
with the outer world and its strenuous (immortal word) struggle for 
existence and supremacy had produced so many females among the 
population that soprano and contralto were the only parts taught in the 
winter singing schools. Probably this was because I was not there in 
the winter. The reader who fails to catch my point is referred to 
current gossip in poultrydom. 

A talented writer who has published a very good book that claims 
to contain "all that there is to know" about poultry keeping has not 
yet answered the following perfectly reasonable question addressed to 
him last spring by the author of this book: "Can you furnish me with 



THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 



that you know to have been a persistent layer?" "If so, at what 
price?" The courteous inquiry and a stamp failed to bring a reply to 
that question. A second letter also failed. 

I received samples of shell that indicated that the hen that laid the 
egg had neither laid freely or long. I do not know if the Sage of 
TTolfboro knew that or not although he claims that we can learn all 
that we wish to know by observation without the aid of trap nests. 

In my serious writing I desire that my words be taken at their face 
value. The personal equation as a factor in discussion is often given 
undue weight. An error is none the less an error because 
promulgated by those who command a high place in society, litera- 
ture, politics, religion or business. A fact is a fact however 
humble its source. Behind this little book is the authority of 
a fairly good number of hens. To me they represent competent au- 
thority when we question them one at a time and do not endeavor to 
form our opinions when they are all talking at once. 

There is nothing in this book that can harm anyone, nothing that 
need require much expenditure of time or money. Any time that 
an Ideal user becomes tired of using the nests as traps he can use 
them open and he will have as good open nests as I have ever seen. 

I have been told that I take this business too seriously. That de- 
pends, of course, upon our point of view. A business that produces 
so many "wrecks along the shore" cannot be taken too seriously. 
These wrecks are not always due to the spending of too much money 
in preparing for the voyage. Many of them are due to a lack of 
knowledge of the laws of poultry navigation and the neglect to study 
the charts that show the rocks and the shoals that menace, and the 
beacon lights that guide or warn the poultry keeper. 

There is nothing more important in the conduct of any pursuit, for 
business or pleasure, than intelligent thought. Nothing more harmful 
than hysterical assumption. 

A man can keep hens, at a profit, for forty years and yet know very 
little about hens in general, or even his own, hens. 

Current discussion proves that men may read and criticize and yet 
know very little of what they read or criticize. This can be applied 
to poultry keeping, the coal strike, or anything else that gets into print 
and attracts attention. 

Scientific advertising, when it degenerates to scientific lying, may 
arouse sincere condemnation, but many judge too hastily and allow 
their own ignorance to mislead them woefully. What may appear in- 
credible to us is often a coiuinon-place truth to those who know. 

I have read exposes, written by apparently competent authority, that 
bore the undeniable hall-mark of presumptuous, ignorance. Because 



THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK » 

one editor is bribable we are not warranted in assuming that all editors 
are. Because one hundred advertisers are known to be obtaining 
money under false pretences, we are not justified in assuming that even 
a -ingle one of thousands of others are. 

Popular thoughtlessness is responsible for much that is obnoxious to 
the intelligent observer in modern advertising-. 

If the showman did not add a few hundred pounds to the bill-board 
weight of the fat lady, or the strong man's burden, he would get less 
patronage. 

The subscriber's unwillingness to read, think, reason and learn is in 
great measure responsible for the unquestioned and bare-faced lies 
that adorn the advertising columns of our poultry papers and are 
thought by many business men to be necessary to success. 

The plain unvarnished tale lacks interest with by far the great maj- 
ority of people. The author who attempts to disprove this is running 
much risk unless he be well fortified by both money and acumen. 

The great trouble with those people who are sincere in the belief that 
the trap-nest idea is not capable of general application is that a full 
understanding- of the question is wanting-. They fail, first of all, to 
comprehend that means for obtaining such understanding has been 
generally lacking. The author of this book has been largely instru- 
mental in making such means available, not only directly in connection 
with the Ideal nest, but indirectly in other ways. If it is not meet that 
he should say this for whom should he wait? 

Many very incorrectly assume that a popular recommendation of the 
trap-nest system in the abstract embodies a failure to understand the 
conditions under which poultry keeping, as a general proposition, is 
(or must be?) conducted. To dismiss this as briefly as possible, I will say 
that no one who cannot get his money's worth from a pratical trap- 
nest outfit can breed and maintain hens, either in large or small num- 
bers, year in and year out, at a legitimate profit. Occasional ill-advised 
endorsements of nests that are impracticable should not effect the 
honest claims of other and practical nests, one of which is described in 
this book. Within my reach at this moment are the descriptions and 
specifications of a large number of trap-nests the like of which the 
poultry world has not yet heard of and sonic of them are good. 

The poultry keeper who is obliged to be away from his birds nearly 
or quite all of the day is in constant evidence. He is not a fair repre- 
sentative of the poultry business, as a business, and were we to cease 
promoting appliances and supplies as of general utility that are of little 
use to him. most of us. editors and all, would shut up shop. The most 
serious fault possessed by an accurate 1 rap-nest is that it is willing to 
work first, last and all of the time for the user's interests. 

The writer is not a scientist and there lias been no effort to adopt a 



10 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOIv 

scientific tone in any of my writing-, past or present. I have sought 
for the most simple language that would correctly define my meaning. 

There is a tendency in poultry literature to simplify at the expense 
of accuracy. We are told, for instance, that too much corn will make 
a hen become broody. Such is not, necessarily, the case. A tendency 
toward broodiness carries with it a tendency to fatten, hence the wdiole 
process will be encouraged by the presence of food elements that can 
be readily converted into fat. 

We are told that clover, vegetables and meat will make a hen lay a 
large number of eggs. Those foods will not, necessarily, bring about 
any such result. The elements contained in them will enable the hen 
with normal digestive and assimilative powers to feed such eggs as her 
inherent tendencies cause to be passed down. That number may be 
greater or less according to the capacity of the individual and the in- 
fluences of surrounding conditions. 

The scientific writer avIio makes a special study of foods and food 
values in their application to mankind or animals is prone to attribute 
far greater powers to his favorite foods than actual and general 
practice shows them to possess. 

The recent boom in the by-products of certain concerns illustrate 
this point without lessening or increasing the actual value of those 
by-products in the least, as they are converted in the internal 
economy of those who eat them. One of the greatest points in fav- 
or of certain much-extolled foods for men or fowls is that they can 
be made to take the place, to a considerable extent, of heavier foods 
that are usually used in excess of the actual needs of the body. Over- 
feeding of ourselves, and those dependent upon us, is a national fault. 
A man can over-feed himself every day in the year without increasing 
his weight or the size of his aldermanic trade-mark. 

Natural individual tendencies regulate, in a marked degree, the 
appropriation of food elements in the body. These tendencies vary 
with different individuals and are largely controlled by heredity. 

One more reference to inaccurate writing and I will close this long, 
preamble. One writer of current poultry fact and fiction asserts with 
great assurance that all of the big egg records are made by pullets. 
Some of us who live where we can communicate freely with the outer 
world know that this is not so. 

I had a flock of twenty-three not very remarkable hens last year (1901) 
that were hatched in '98 and '99 that averaged 124 2-3 eggs each for 
the year. Two of them laid 177 each, one 162, one 151 and so on down 
to 71, the lowest record. Some of these birds are yet with me and are 
laying well. These are exceptional hens, perhaps, but they have not 
received exceptional care, 



THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 11 

While economic conditions make it necessary for us to maintain our 
fowls in Mocks, often large Hocks, the individual bird and its individual 
traits and tendencies must be the foundation upon which to base all 
accurate information regarding their proper maintenance and possible 
profitableness. The small pen of the breeder is but the result of the 
working of this law and is of no advantage whatever, in regard to fer- 
tility or anything else, except as it brings us closer to the individual 
bird. 

The trap nest enables us to get still closer to the individual, whether 
the separate Hocks be large or small, and thereby enables us to judge 
of effect by the cause rather than of cause by the effect as is generally 
done. 

With no furthur apology, 1 submit the following pages to the 
Thoughtful Reader. 

The Author. 

Yarmouth, Maine, October 1. 1902. 



# 



"Our doubts are traitors 
And make us lose 
The good we oft might win 
By fearing to attempt." 



"Who dares not follow Truth where'er 

Her footsteps lead, 
But says, 'Oh, guide not there, nor there! 
I have not strength to follow where 

My feet would bleed; 
But show me worn ways, trodden fair 

By feet more brave; 
Who fears to stand in Truth's broad glare, 
What others dared not will not dare, 

Is but a slave." 



CHAPTER I 



INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING AND USING THE 
IDEAL TRAP NEST. 

PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 

THE IDEAL NEST BOX. 

THE IDEAL NEST BOX may be prepared from any box that is 
large enough to give comfortable room for a hen. It may be as 
large as desired, but should not be less than twelve inches wide, and 
should be at least 10 inches deep for Mediterraneans, 12 to 14 for Am- 
ericans, and 14 to 16 for Asiatics, and high enough for the hen to stand 
erect (making due allowance for nest material) without touching her 
head to the top. Common soap boxes, canned-goods boxes and the 
like, stood on end, are often of suitable dimensions and are admirable 
for the purpose. With such boxes as these, the front and back referred 
to in these directions are what were, in the original box, the top and 
bottom. And the top and bottom of our nest box are the original ends. 

Having selected a suitable box the cover should be carefully removed 
and the pieces cleated together to form the front for our nest box (see 
tig 1). These cleats should be nailed on 8 in. apart (C to D and S to 
T). Care must be taken that the nails do not project on the inside. 

Saw an opening in this front of the following dimensions: (see fig. 
1), mark out with pencil first. (For sake of clearness we will suppose 
that the box is 19 inches high when stood on end). Beginning- at C, 6 
inches from the bottom A, mark from C to K., 8 inches; K to G, 8 
inches; G- to D, 8 inches. Mark the angles J to L and I to H (from G 
to H should be 2 inches; G to I, 2 inches; J to K, 3 inches; and K to 
L, 3 inches). 

Noav saw from D to H, M to I, N to J, C to L; split out the pieces 
and finish off to angles L. J and H, I and round edges with a knife; 
this leaves in our front an opening 8 inches high and 8 inches wide, 
with angles in the corners as shown in the figure. In no case should 
these angles be omitted. 

The top cleat Q should be at least 3 inches wide, and the lower cleat 
R not less than 2 inches wide. The lower edge of the opening O (K, C) 
should be at least 5 inches above the bottom of the box, inside, so that 



THE (DEAL TRAP NEST 13 

the nesl material shall not interfere with the "Attachment". It may be 
lower, however, if a strip of 1-2 inch stuff, 4 inches wide, be nailed on 
edge across the bottom of the box, inside and 4 inches or more from 
the front to confine the nesl material. If this i> done a deeper box will 
he required. 

By adopting- this method, a very low box may he used, even for 
large breeds, as an opening 1 1-2 inches wide may he cut in the front 
edge of the to]) of the box to permit the trap plate being raised to the 
full size of the opening (see V in figs. 5 and G). Thus it will be seen 
that a box 13 <>r 14 inches high might be used, but so* low a box would 
seldom be required and is not high enough for a hen to stand with 
comfort. 

I earnestly recommend that when selecting or making nest boxes 
this matter of height he considered. It is a rare tiling to rind a covered 
nest that is high enough. Many. broken e.u^s, mutilated combs and 
bruised backs result from using nests that are too low. 

For the purpose of removing' the hen and egg, the box may be fitted 
with a cover in the top, (tig. 2.) a door in the back, (figs. 3 and 6) or 
the front may be hinged to serve as a door, (tig. 5). 

When trap nests are to be used in considerable numbers, they should 
be so made that the attendant can see if they are occupied without 
opening them. To attain this end the Ideal may be made with the 
hinged front, (tig. 5) ami used back to the wall, or if, used front to the 
wall, the door in the back may be made of narrow strips or laths 
cleated together so as to leave openings not more than 3-4 inches, wide 
between them, (fig 6.) When the box is used front to the wall the 
■attendant can see into the nest through these narrow openings in the 
back. If the box is used back to the wall he can see at a glance if the 
trap is locked or the nest occupied ; an important distinction with some 
trap nests. I prefer this latter style, (fig. 5,) ki every case except 
when the nests are to be used on a littered floor or opening on a 
walk. When it is desired to hinge the front in order to use the 
box back to the wall. 3 inch strap hinges may be used and 
applied as shown in rig. 5. They may be easily bent so as 
to form a right angle. The door may be secured by any pre- 
ferred form of hook or button. A simple catch, made by bending 
an ordinary screw hook at right angles, may be screwed into the 
edge of the box at any desired point and makes a strong and handy 
fastening, (see rig. 4.) This catch 1 designed especially for the Ideal 
and it is the only thoroughly satisfactory fastening that I have ever 
used, [t is strong and "stays put." 1 find it a very handy form of 
catch for various purposes such as fastening coop doors, holding up the 
bail of the water pail, etc. Screw hooks of any size can be placed in a 
bench vise and hammered into the right shape. In use, if they turn too 



14: THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

hard, they should be screwed farther into the wood and then withdrawn 
the right distance . This will make them work easier . When making- the 
hinged front it should be made 1-4 inch narrower than the box inside 
and the cleats Q and R made as long- as the box is wide outside, as 
shown by the dotted lines E E, tigs. 1 and 8. The movable portion of 
this front should not extend below the bottom edge of the cleat R, the 
remaining' space is tilled by nailing a strip to the box, (see W, tig. 5.) 
A space of 1-2 inch should be left between tins strip and the bottom of 
the door to prevent the latter from binding. 

VENTILATION. 

The Ideal may be ventilated as much or little as is thought desirable. 
The comfort of the hen should certainly have consideration. Mr. 
Michael K. Boyer made ventilation one of the cardinal points in his 
trap nest "contest." The box may be ventilated by boring holes in the 
sides, using a large bit or auger, or a box may be constructed of slats 
or laths 3-4 of an inch apart, or the sides alone may be made in this 
way and the back solid. Openings should not be made in the top of 
the box unless it is to be used where the hens cannot perch on it, as 
their droppings will go through and soil the nest. If the box is high 
no openings should be made that will be above the fowl's head when 
she stands erect. Hens will jump toward the light that enters above 
their heads and may break their eggs. Boxes having openings in the 
lower part of the sides or back, should be used where they will not be 
exposed to direct draughts of air. The form of the trap-plate and the 
hen-opening are such as to provide air, probably sufficient in many 
cases. 

TO MAKE THE ATTACHMENT. 

The Ideal Attachment, a sample of which accompanies the plan 
sheet, consists of a trap-plate, (A fig. 8) and a pawl or trigger (Pfig. 8). 
For the trap-plate take a piece of 1-2 inch dressed board not less than 9 
inches wide and 11 inches long (old boxes w-ill often provide suitable 
pieces.) Place the model on this and mark around it with a pencil ; 
bore 1-4 inch hole in exactly same place as in sample; draw straight 
lines as shown in tig 7, then saw from A to B, C to D, E to F, G to D, 
H to I, J to K, L to M ; cut notches and finish to curved lines with knife. 

The pawl (P fig. 8) is made from 3-4 inch stuff. It is very import- 
ant that this pawl be at least 1-4 inch thicker than the trap-plate 
which should be at least 1-2 inch thick. Mark out from sample; the 
grain of the wood should run lengthwise of the pawl ; bore 1-4 inch 
hole in exactly the same place as model, then saw out and finish with 
knife. 



T1IK IDEAL TRAP NEST, 15 

TO PUT ON THE ATTACHMENT. 

The trap-plate should be secured to the inside of the front beaten- 
wire screw, 1 1-2 inches long. This screw should enter the front at a 
point jusl 3-4 of an inch above the top of opening O, or 8 3-4 in. above 
the bottom edge, and 1 inch from the side of the box. sec fig. 8. 

When the box has the door in the hack or a cover in the top, the 
front is nailed on and the trap-plate, when closed, rests againstthe side 
of the box. When the front is hinged to open as a door a small piece 
of wood. 1 inch thick. 1 inch wide and 1 1-2 inch Long, is nailed on to 
the inside of the front to serve as a stop for the trap-plate, see W, fig. 8. 
Two pieces of L-2 inch stuff, one piece on top of the other, will answer. 

The trap-plate should be attached to the front so loosely that it will 
fall back quickly when raised to its full height, and yet not so loosely 
that the pawl will fall behind it when it is pushed inward by the hen. 

The pawl is also secured to the front so that it will move freely and 
at such a point that the end of the pawl shall tit easily into the lower 
notch in the trap-plate, (N fig. 8), and at such a height that the top of 
the pawl, (Z tie;. 8), will he 3 1-4 inches above a point directly in line 
with the lower edge of the hen opening O. If the trap-plate and pawl 
have been properly hung the opening from X to Y (rig. 2) will be 
about 2 1-2 inches wide when the trap-plate is down and the pawl will 
tall from its raised position when this opening has been increased to 
4 1-2 inches by raising the trap-plate (fig. 9). Should the breed be of 
very -mall size, so that they can enter the box without opening the 
trap-plate 4 1-2 inches, a strip of 1-2 inch stuff 6 inches long, should be 
tacked on to the inside of the box at Z. tig. 2: the pawl will then fall 
when the opening is 4 inches wide: or. if preferred, the curved recess 
in the edge of the trap-plate need not be so large as that in the pattern 
when the [deal is to be used with Mediterraneans; for Asiatics of very 
large size this recess may be made 1 inch deeper if desired. Both the 
trap-plate and pawl should fall easily from any position when allowed 
to drop, either quickly or slowly, as upon the correct working of this 
trap-plate and pawl the accuracy of the trap depends. 

In this connection I will say that, should the poultry house be ex- 
cessively damp, the seasoned wood of the trap-plate, pawl, or front of 
box will swell and the attachment may stick, especially if the screws 
have been put in too far — a common mistake. Should this happen the 
offending screw must be loosened. When hanging the attachment a 
little vaseline or oil on the screws will prevent rust and lessen the lia- 
bility of trouble in very damp houses. It will also be well to try and 
remedy the faults in the house that cause dampness, as damp poultry 
houses are exceedingly bad abiding places for poultry. Of course the 
nests are not designed to be run under water but they can be if the above 
obvious expedients are adopted. 



16 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

At this writing- I have never received a voluntary complaint from a 
customer. As neither my customers or myself are infallible and my 
description may not be wholly clear to every reader, I earnestly request 
that, should any trouble whatever arise, I be notified and given a chance 
to prescribe the remedy. 

Public criticisms of the Ideal by people who have failed in their at- 
tempts to devise as good a nest and have at best a somewhat vague and 
superficial knowledge of our patent laws and system — at worst a most 
profound ignorance of them — will never occur if fair trial is allowed to 
anticipate judgement and I, as the inventor and promoter of the device, 
am treated with ordinary business courtesy and candor. 

To give any trap nest a fair trial, at least one pen shoud be entirely 
equipped with them. This will require at least one third as many nests 
as there are laying hens. 

Having* prepared a sufficient number of Ideal nest boxes, put in a 
good supply of nest material, and place them in the pen just where they 
are to remain, first removing all other nests. In order that the hens 
may become accustomed to the new nests as quickly as possible the 
trap-plates may be raised and secured by tightening the screws. The 
nests may be used in this way for about one week, or until the laying hens 
have all used them, when the screws may be loosened and the nests 
used as traps. If the boxes are high enough to permit of it, or if open- 
ings have been made in the front edge of the top, as shown in fig. 5, the 
trap-plates may be raised so as to rest on the end of the pawl when for 
any reason it is desired to use the Ideal as open nests. 

This is a suggestion merely. I always use the nests as traps from the 
start. I do not remain in the pen watching the hens as that would 
prevent them from following their own inclinations. I leave the nests 
and the birds alone and they get together all right as a rule. There are 
sometimes exceptions. Those are referred to under the heading, "eggs 
laid outside the nests" and elsewhere. Nest eggs should never be 
placed in trap-nests ; they are an unnecessary nuisance with any nests, 
except when used with sitting hens, and should positively never be used 
in traps. 

This positive statement will very naturally arouse opposition with 
some readers. I should not feel justified in making so broad an asser- 
tion had I not thoroughly canvassed the matter. Do not nest eggs in- 
duce pullets to lay in certain places? They certainly do. I doubt if 
the pullet that has not laid is influenced any by a nest egg, but after she 
begins the presence of anything that resembles an egg, in a nest or 
elsewhere, prompts her to lay her offering along side of it. That is one 
of my several objections to nest eggs. Birds form habits very easily 
and it is not always easy to change them. 



TO OPERATE 17 

\,-st eggs arc cold in winter, chilling the birds, often with serious 
results, and are a prolific cause of broken eggs. They have a great ten- 
dency to produce and foster broodiness and their constant use will 
lessen egg production. 

The healthy and ambitious layer, pullet or hen, will, as a rule, use the 
Ideal 1 rap-nests, if they are properly constructed and installed, without 
the use of nesl eggs or other bait. I have had pullets on free range fly 
over the yard fences, enter the poultry house, and lay their first eggs in 
Ideal nests. These were exceptional cases of course. 

In flocks of any size 6ggs are likely to be laid outside the nests oc- 
casionally, especially before the drones have been weeded out. The 
various causes for this, although usually 'preventable, are not always 
prevented. One ego- laid outside may attract several others, especially 
if the birds have been accustomed to the use of nest earffs 



TO OPERATE. 

Place the finger under the pawl when it is in the locked position 
shown in fig. 8 ; raise the pawl and the trap-plate will rise and fall back, 
leaving the pawl in the position shown in fig. 10 The hen, when en- 
tering the box, raises the trap-plate by the pressure of her body and the 
pawl drops into the opening in the back edge of the trap-plate. When 
the hen is inside the trap-plate resumes its original posiiton, but the 
pawl has fallen into the notch X and the trap-plate is securely locked. 

If the box has the opening in the front of the top (U fig. 5) one of the 
catches (fig. 4) can be screwed into the top edge of the front 2 1-2 inches 
from the side containing the hen opening and will serve as a stop, pre- 
venting the trap-plate from being thrown too high when the lien enters. 
A half turn to the right will permit the trap-plate being raised on top 
of the pawl when an open nest is desired. Turning the catch back 
will lock the trap-plate. 



^4 



CHAPTER 



First experiences. Controlling broodiness with the Ideal* Number of nests 
required: Location of the nests in the poultry house. The best location. Eggs 
laid outside the nests; causes and how to prevent. 

FIRST EXPERIENCES* 

When beginning the use of "the Ideal they may sometimes be found 
locked and no lien within. This feature is not due to any imperfection 
in the trap device, but is the result of the investigation of the new nests 
by the hens. If the trap did not spring until after the hen had entered 
the box it would only result in more hens being found in the nests, 
not necessarily more eggs. The trap, springing as it does, simply pre- 
vents the curious hens from entering the box. In a short time the 
flock will become familiar with the nests and the laying hens will en- 
ter them without hesitation. 

There is another point to be noted in this connection. It should 
be well known that a hen cannot see in the dark. If the nest box is 
built so closely that all of the light enters from the hen-opening the 
nest may become invisible when the entrance is tilled by the bird's 
body as she attempts to enter the box. This may result in her backing 
out and the trap locking. In other words the bird is afraid of her own 
shadow. Especially is this likely to cause trouble when the nests are 
placed front to the wall, or in a semi-dark or secluded location. By 
this we see that the boxes should not be too dark. All theories that 
are opposed to this are untenable. However much exposed the location 
of our Ideal nest boxes may be, the nest itself will afford sufficient 
seclusion. 

Non-laying hens and male birds will sometimes spring the traps but 
it would be more trouble to release them had they entered than it is to 
reset the traps. If desired, the trap-plate may be set so as to present a 
larger opening by raising it just enough for the arm to rest in the notch in 
the pawl. When the hinged front is employed the trap may be set with- 
out opening the door by making the opening marked S in fig. 6. This 
opening should not be over 5 1-2 inches long and one inch wide ; this will 
involve a little extra labor when preparing the box and is by no means 
necessary. 

When the Ideal is to be used on a shelf or under the droppings plat- 
form, it should have either the hinged front or the door in the back for 
removing the hen and egg. When used facing the wall a passage-way 
should be left in front of the nests to give the hens access to them. 



NUMBEK OF NESTS REQUIRED 19 

Sand or dirt may be used in this passage but not nest material as that 
would tempt some of the hens to lay outside of the nests. A space wide 
enough to admit the hens to the passage, should be left at the center or 
any preferred place in the row. 

If the nests are used back to the wall they should be so placed that 
the liens cannot get behind them. When one nest is to be placed on 
top of another, a board should be fastened to the top of the under box, 
projecting about 6 inches in front to permit the hen to reach the upper 
nest; cleats may be nailed to the board to prevent the nest from being 
pushed off by the liens. If such a board be fastened to the bottom of 
the box, the nest may be hung on the wall at any convenient height, 
provided it has the hinged front, or a door in the side. The Ideal nests 
may lie made in banks or groups, -Mine box for each pen," if you wish, 
but most poultry keepers, 1 think, prefer to have their nests single and 
separate. I also prefer to make them with a bottom but it is not 
necessary. 

A hen will often select one nest in which she will lay day after day, 
sometimes waiting a considerable length of time for it to be vacated. 
Taking advantage of this habit, I frequently "break them up" when 
broody simply by locking them out of their favorite nest and they will 
often begin laying again in a short time. While this will not be suc- 
cessful in every case it is well worth trying, for the brooding habit can 
be controlled to a considerable extent by the judicious use of the Ideal. 

The constant handling of the laying hens and the frequent collections 
of their eggs has a tendency to keep them laying and overcome the in- 
clination to sit. The trait nest has exploded the theory that a lien will 
only lay a certain number of eggs and then "go broody/ 7 The tiny 
eggs that have been commonly supposed to indicate the "end of the 
litter" may be laid at any time by hens that are out of condition. 

When sitting hens are wanted they should be left on the nests as long- 
as they will stay voluntarily, when they want to get out they should 
be released: do not try to force them to sit. Their eggs should be 
marked and dated and returned to them. When a hen begins to cluck, 
or has remained on the nest quietly for a day and a night, she may be 
removed to the hatching room, even if she has not stopped laying. Here 
seclusion and quiet, plenty of whole corn, grit and water and a few 
nest eggs will generally bring about the desired result. 

NUMBER OF NESTS REQUIRED. 

It is impossible to state the exact number of nests required, in every 
ease, as that depends upon the number of eggs laid daily and the fre- 
quency of collections. There should be enough nests so that they will 
not all be occupied at one time. When a lam wants to lav she should 



20 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

not only be able to find a nest to lay in but she should have a choice 
of nests, as if only one happens to be vacant it may not be in just the 
location to suit that particular hen. 

I have found that when the eggs are collected but three or four times 
daily, it is advisable to have at least two-thirds as many nests as there 
are eggs laid daily. Hence it follows that the number of nests required 
depends more upon the number of eggs laid than on the number of hens 
in the flock. 

By fitting up my pens with a number of nests based on the egg yield, 
adding more nests as more eggs were laid, I have been able to keep the 
eggs laid outside the nests down to a very small number, even with 
flocks of pullets. A proper arrangement of a sufficient number of traps 
in the pen will permit of a record being kept of practically all of the 
eggs laid by a flock that is in good condition. 

It is customary to reckon one-third as many nests as hens but that 
rule Avill not always work. I have seen the claim that one nest for live 
hens was sufficient. That estimate was applied in connection with a 
somewhat expensive nest that was sold ready-made. One nest with 
five hens appears to have been one of the rules that helped to make a 
certain Experiment Station test one of the most amusing pieces of folly 
on record. The injustice, bigotry and inaccuracy that characterized the 
test was disclosed in a Report that also revealed the almost incompre- 
hensible stupidity of the management. 

Four nests might be sufficient for twelve hens but it does not follow 
that one nest will suffice for three hens. Three hens are likely to want 
to lay at practically the same time, occasionally, but they cannot all get 
into the nest at once— that is if it is the Ideal. I would use at least two 
nests with three hens. Perhaps five hens would need no more if looked 
after frequently. Ideal nests are cheaper than time however. 

There is but one correct rule to follow and that is : use nests enough 
so that all of the nests will not be occupied long at one time. That 
might be two nests with one flock of twelve hens and eight nests with 
another. It all depends upon the kind of layers one has and the sys- 
tem of attention adopted. 

I cannot impress too strongly upon the reader the importance of in- 
stalling nests enough. It is immaterial, in this connection, whether the 
fault has been in the design of the traps, their expense, or lack of 
forethought on the part of the user the fact remains that probably 
ninety per cent of the troubles that people have had with installations 
of trap nests and the resulting ill considered and inaccurate opinions 
that have been advanced regarding this system have been caused, di- 
rectly or indirectly, by an insufficient number of nests. 

I do not think it necessary to explain in detail all of the reasons for 
this. Suffice it to say that experience will prove to any reasonable man, 



II IK LOCATION 



21 



woman, or child, that uiucli time and trouble will be saved by install- 
ing nests enough to properly care for the egg yield. I have no doubl 
that 1 lose sales by emphasizing this point. 1 know that some go to 
greater expense for a less number of some other make of nests that oc- 
cupy more room and then spend more time attending" to them than my 
customers will find necessary. 1 think it Letter to be right, however, 
sales or no sales. 



THE LOCATION OF THE TRAP NESTS IN THE 
POULTRY HOUSE. 

That the somewhat limited space under the roosting platforms is a 
convenient and desirable place for a portion of the trap nests, or even 
tor all of them in some houses, I will allow, but to my mind there are 
several very important reasons why this location should not be selected 
as the best, or to the exclusion of all others, in the great majority of 
poultry houses. 

First it is perhaps unnecessary to say that many poultry houses are 
not provided with droppings-boards, aud that in many more that are, 
there is not sufficient room beneath them for the necessary number of 
trap nests; hence some other location must be considered for at least a 
part of them. Individuality is a strong characteristic of some fowls, as 
well as some men, and while it is possible to train them to do as we 
wish in many things, it is equally impossible to teach all of them to do 
our bidding. To succeed in coaxing every laying member of a flock of 
hens to deposit her eggs in just such a nest, placed in just such a spot 
as we have decided to be the correct one, will be no light task unless 
the flock be very small, and not always then. I once had a hen that re- 
fused to lay in any of the open nests placed on the floor of the pen. 
Her egg was always found on the floor, (we were able to distinguish it 
from the others,- for the hens were mongrels and her egg was unlike the 
rest), but a nest box having been placed on top of a barrel she at once 
adopted it as hers and laid in it right along. When the box was again 
placed on the floor this lien laid on top of the barrel. It is this trait in 
some members of the flock that will account, in some cases, for the 
eggs that are laid outside of the trap nests. 

While it may he possible to teach the hens to use the nests by being 
constantly on hand, and when one is found sitting on the floor placing 
her in a nest, I have found it to be much easier to so place the nests in the 
house that the cranky members of the flock should And one suited to 
their peculiar notions. The fact that out of 1,3(38 eggs laid by one pen 
of mixed hens and pullets, none were found outside the trap nests, may 
perhaps give some color to what many might call a theory. In this pen 



22 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK . 

I had at one time seven nests placed back to the light under the drop- 
pings-boards, five on a shelf and six placed around in different parts of 
the room near the wall ; at this time there were forty laying hens in the 
pen. Most of the hens would lay in any nest that happened to be va- 
cant but some of them showed a decided preference to a certain location, 
and a number to a certain nest. The fact that some of the nests that 
stood alone were always occupied by the same hens, and that they 
would never lay in the others, proves to me that those hens had notions 
of their own in regard to the location of the trap nests in the pen. The 
removal of a few of the nest boxes later, resulted in nearly seven per 
cent, of the eggs being laid outside of the traps in one month. 

This experience and these suggestions will apply more to flocks of 
hens that have not been bred to such a degree of uniformity as should 
characterize a flock of pure-bred birds of one strain. With a good flock 
of pure-bloods there will be more similarity of temperament and we 
need not be so particular regarding the distribution of the nests. 



THE BEST LOCATION, 

The best location in many poultry houses for the majority of the 
trap nests, if not all of them, is on a platform or shelf suspended from 
the rafters or supported from the floor at such a height that it will be 
easily accessible to the hens and the attendant. Such a platform may 
be built in the scratching room or roosting room as preferred, should 
they be separate. The height from the ground may be from 12 to 40 
inches, according to breed. This location is more convenient and more 
agreeable for the attendant, who is not obliged to stoop when removing 
hen and egg. The nests are out of the way of the scratching material 
if the scratching room and laying room are one as is often the case. 
They will be warmer in winter than on the floor under the droppings 
boards besides allowing more floor space for the flock . Poultry keep- 
ers of the gentler sex will especially appreciate the advantages of a 
shelf for the trap nests. While the space under the roosting platforms 
is probably the least airy part of the poultry house in summer, it pos- 
sesses the advantage that the tops of the nest boxes are protected from 
hens perching on and soiling them ; but the boxes used elsewhere may 
be protected by slanting boards, hen wire, or in any pref erred manner, 
if desired. I will say, however, that ri the birds are fed properly they 
will not perch on the nest boxes to any serious extent during the day. 
At night they will occupy their accustomed roosts unless mites or other 
distressing conditions are present. This matter of the location of the 
nests is worthy of careful consideration. Even then we could not all 
agree. Our hens are not all alike. If they were, these instructions 
would be more brief. 



THE BEST LOCATION 23 

To my mind the most objectionable place that would be likely to be 
devised for any nests, trap or open, is beneath the droppings-plat- 
forms, and 1 have tested it thoroughly, yet some prefer them there. 
Our own convenience, comfort and scruples should, in great measure. 
govern the matter. 

Were I to tit up a poultry house with what I consider to be an ideal 
equipment of Ideal nests 1 would group all of the nests together if the 
plan of the house permitted such an arrangement. If it did not I 
would have two or more main groups and single nests where there was 
a chance for them, if they were needed. 

I do not mean that I would build the nests together but that I would 
arrange the separate nests in one, two or more groups. 

I would have all that 1 could of these nests up off of the ground, 
either on a platform or hung on the Avail. These nests would all be 
made after the style shown in tig. 5 with the hinged front. If any 
nests were to be permanently used on the ground, I would make them 
after the style shown in tig. 6 and use them facing the wall and about 
one foot from it. With such groups of Ideal nests they all look alike 
and the birds are not so likely to become attached to certain nests as 
they are when the nests are of different styles and separately distributed. 
For this reason also I would have no other make or type of nests in the 
pen. Given such a group of uniform nests the bird that desires to lay 
will go from one nest to another in the row and select one that is un- 
occupied. The same hen may use each nest in the group in as many 
days. A single glance at this group of nests shows the attendant in- 
stantly which nests, if any, require his attention. This is a matter of 
no small importance if many nests are used. There is a farmer near 
here who uses a system of open nests that he thinks is about right and he 
would laugh at the idea of fooling away his valuable time with traps. 
Yet I will guarantee that he spends one-third more time in feeding and 
watering and caring for his hens and picking up 100 eggs a day than I 
do, and he does not spend half as much time at it as he ought either. 
He could not distinguish a hen that had not laid 10 eggs in six months 
from one that had laid 150 in the same time, to save his life. 

Xot only does the arrangement of traps that I am describing save 
time but. if the nests are raised above the ground sufficiently, we have 
the lien where she can be handled with the greatest of dispatch and 
ease. I like a distance of 30 to 40 inches from the ground to the bot- 
tom of nest. 

My Rocks and 'Dottes have no trouble in reaching' a bench of that 
height and the dry sand and litter on the floor does not injure them 
when they jump down. Of course this height is not arbitrary. 

Mv bench or shelf would be 2 or 2 1-2 feet wide and the nests set 



24 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

back far enough to leave sufficient margin for the hens to move freely 
in front of the nests. 

Such an arrangement in its general conception, economizes space in 
the greatest degree. No floor space, or indeed any space that would be 
needed for anything else, need be used. It is more agreeable as well 
as more convenient for the attendant to attend to the nests than would 
be the case if they were situated under the roost-platform where he or 
she must stoop when removing the hen and egg often approximating 
certain disagreeable and unsavory accessories. The hens like such an 
arrangement, apparently, as well as the attendant. 

If there is a single objection to this nest-plan a three years test has 
not revealed its importance to me. There are some theories opposed to 
it and they are in a measure correct theories. I carefully nursed them 
for awhile, but when you find a theory, however good it may be, that 
can, with propriety, be improved in the interest of convenience it is well 
to change it even if you have to make a change of front at the same 
time. My general description will admit of various modifications to 
suit different houses and flocks. 

Platforms for the trap nests may be hung from the rafters with fur- 
ring or supported from below. They may be of any height preferred, 
from one to four feet above the ground ; or two platforms may be used 
one above another. If one platform is 20 inches above the ground and 
another 20 inches above that, three rows of nests may be used, one row 
on the ground and two more above. Thus two platforms, each 8 feet 
long, would accomodate fourteen nests and seven more on the ground 
would give twenty-one nests, enough for from forty to sixty hens, 
without sacrificing but little floor space. The space beneath this 
lower platform, if open at the ends, will be cooler in summer than 
that beneath roosting platforms as usually situated. 

A very good point to remember when arranging nests on a scratching 
floor, or water pails, grit boxes etc. that are near the floor, is that hens 
scratch away from the light. The litter will be thrown toward the 
back of the pen. If Ideal nests, made after the styles shown in figures 
2, 3 or 6 are used on the scratching floor, back to the light and near the 
wall, the litter will not be likely to interfere with the trap. 

EGGS LAID OUTSIDE THE NESTS. 



When eggs are laid outside the nests there must be a reason for it. 
There may be an insufficient number of nests, or some of them may be 
too light, or too dark, or improperly located in the pen ; they may be 
infested with vermin, or some of the hens are too fat. Whatever the 
cause may be it should be searched out and remedied as far as possible. 

If boxes are so situated or constructed that they are so dark that the 



EGGS LAID .OUTSIDE THE NESTS 25 

hens cannot sec the nest, they will not be used. If the boxes are ven- 
tilated in such a manner and placed in such a location as to admit too 
much light, some of the laying hens will avoid them, while the non- 
layers may patronize them for scratching purposes only, especially if a 
good supply of scratching material has not been provided elsewhere. 
Eggs that are found on the droppings-boards or in the open floor or 
yard, are laid by liens thai are out of condition. Their egg organs are 
weakened by accumulations of fat so that the egg is voided premature- 
ly, incontinence may be caused by too frequent or too ardent attentions 
of the male, or a low tone of the nervous system, resulting in alack of 
ambition may be at the bottom of the trouble, or it can be caused by 
over-stimulation. 

It is somewhat amusing to read after the Author-of-all-poiiltry- 
knowledge, who claims that we can keep track of our layers well 
enough by observation without the aid of trap nests and in the next 
word says that we are not warranted in using them for the reason that 
egg- will be laid outside and no one can tell wdiich hens laid them. If 
this Sag-e cannot find the pullet that drops her occasional egg i n some 
corner his superior intelligence would hardly enable him to keep track 
of those that lay in the nests. 

If eggs are laid around anywhere it will require considerable close 
observation and study to search out those few individuals that are re- 
sponsible and get at the root of the difficulty. This goes to show how 
hopeless would be the task of attempting to keep track of the whole 
flock by tlie same methods. 

Our first concern should be to supply an adequate equipment of suit- 
able nests. This book shows one way to do that. Xext we should so 
feed and care for our flocks that they shall be in good working condi- 
tion, not indolent and filled with fat. The hens that lay in the nests at 
all and thus gain a place in our egg record will, as a rule, use them all 
of the time if they are not barred out. Those birds that prefer to lay 
outside are always the same birds. They do not lay in the nests part 
of the time and outside part of the time. 

The record sheet will show which birds are using the nests. Those 
remaining will include the outside layers if there are any. It may be 
more trouble to watch for these drones than it is worth unless,- as 
should be the case with Experiment Station workers we are seeking 
knowledge for the benefit of others. Those who are already so supreme- 
ly wise that they do not care to look into the details of poultry keeping 
carefully will be perfectly justified in holding their peace regarding 
things that they can know nothing about. Ready guessers are mighty 
poor instructors. 

Profitable layer- will use suitable nests if such are available when they 
want to lay. I have taken the trouble to search out and keep track of 



26 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

such of my birds as declined to use the nests. There was something 
the matter with every one of them and they were tickle layers. 

When the drones are culled out the trouble will cease as far as 
anything that can be charged to the hens is concerned. If the nests 
are teeming with lice or mites we cannot blame a hen for declining 
to use them, but even when such deplorable conditions exist the 
most persistent layers will use the nests and suffer the consequences. 

Delaying a meal much beyond the regular time (there should be a 
regular time) will sometimes cause hens to hold their eggs and ne- 
glect to enter the nests in time. In such cases eggs may be drop- 
ped at the attendant's feet when he enters the pen and the birds 
flock around him eager for their tardy meal. Regularity in feeding- 
will prevent this. 

Constant espionage by an inexperienced and over-anxious caretaker 
will be very likely to produce such conditions in a flock that an ab- 
normal unrest and eagerness for food between meals will result both 
in the laying of eggs outside of the nests and in an appearance of 
uneasiness under restraint, with the birds in the nests. The wholly 
mistaken notion that a hen should be. or always desires to be re- 
leased from the nest as soon as the egg is laid has often been 
fostered because apparently sustained as a result of such unpractical 
methods. The novice in poultry keeping is by no means the only 
offender in this respect. The trap nest novice is. 

If reasonable confinement in trap nests is likely to injure our birds 
in any way then let us cease to impose the much greater restraint 
made necessary by our methods of caring for brood hens, breeding 
males, exhibition and market birds, and expensive specimens shipped 
to fastidious customers. Preconceived notions are not always con- 
sistent or sane. 

When an adequate equipment of Ideal nests is provided and the 
flock properly fed and cared for and eggs are found outside of the 
nests, the presence of drones that should be weeded out may be 
suspected. 

It may be regarded as reasonably sure that such birds as . have a 
place in the egg record are not guilty. That will confine the sus- 
pects to those birds that do not appear in the daily records. This 
fact being recognized it will simplify the matter of detecting the 
offenders. A little watching will generally result in catching the 
bird or birds in the act and a note can be made of them. 

When eggs are found in some corner or secluded spot where the hen 
has made a nest for herself, an Ideal nest box should be put in that place 
or as near it as possible. I have found that by this means the hen or 
pullet was invariably caught, and after using the nest once or twice 
would continue to lav either in the same nest or in the others. 



eggs laid outside the nests 27 

To illustrate 1 : on the 9th hist., an egg was found in the dust box, ou 
the 10th another, in the same place An [deal was placed in the dust 
box: on the 1 Ith, no egg was found; on the 12th, a pullet with no leg 
band (I do not give them bands until they begin to lay) was found 
with her egg in the Ideal. She was given a band, and on the 13th 
and 14th laid in this same nest box; since that time she has laid 
regularly in the same nest, although it has been moved to another 
place, and no more eggs have been found in the dust box. 1 could 
cite many of these cases if necessary. 

Those who do not favor the general use of trap nests, may believe 
that it is impossible to prevent a large percentage of eggs from being- 
laid outside the nests, and I have no doubt that this is true with 
many of the traps in use. which are of such construction that they 
only present the nests to view a part of the time. As imitation is a 
strong factor in hens learning to use any nests, they do not so readily 
learn to distinguish between the unoccupied nest which they can see 
and the closed nest which they cannot see. The Ideal presents the 
nest to the view of the hens all of the time ; when it is occupied the 
other hens recognize the fact that it is a case of one at a time, and 
wait for it to be vacated, or look for another nest which has the 
same appearance, only it is unoccupied. Still another cause of this 
trouble is the presence in the pen of different types of nests. Some of 
the hens may become attached to a certain style of nest and refuse to 
enter another kind. If locked out of their favorite nest for a long time 
they may lay in front of it or elsewhere outside. These facts are given 
to serve as suggestions merely. Any construction or arrangement of 
the nest boxes that proves satisfactory in results will be correct; while 
if many eggs are found outside the nests, it will show that something 
is wrong and needs to be changed. 

All of the foregoing may seem to be very trivial to those who regard 
it as a foregone conclusion that some hens will deposit their eggs any- 
where, anyway, whether or no, and we should let it go at that and 
pick up the eggs. I assure the reader that when egg^ are laid around 
anywhere, or under the roosts at night, in considerable numbers, some- 
thing is radically wrong Either a lot of unprofitable drones are being- 
maintained at the expense of the birds that regularly use the nests or 
conditions of feeding or care exist that are not conducive to the best 
results in egg production. 



CHAPTER III. 



The best style of nest to use. One or two compartments; which ? The 
two-compartment Ideal* The care of the nests. Collecting eggs. Record 
Keeping. Using the nests open. Separating the layers from the non-layers. 
Brief Pointers. 

THE BEST STYLE OF NEST TO USE. 

IN THE majority of cases the style shown in figure 5 of the plan- 
sheet — the one with the hinged front— will be the most satisfac- 
tory. This style is to be used facing the attendant and the light. It 
can be used under the droppings-boards, on a shelf, on an unlittered 
floor, or, by nailing a board on the bottom, projecting 8 inches in front, 
it may be hung on the wall. This hinged-froiit style is the one pre- 
ferred by Mr. M. K. Boyer, and it was largely due to his criticisms of the 
other styles that I was led to make a most thorough test of this one 
that justifies me in recommending it as the best in most cases. Very 
nervous hens will not be as contented in them as they will in a box 
facing the wall and having a solid back, but careful handling will soon 
tame such birds sufficiently. 

The styles shown by figures 2, 3 and 6 are best adapted for use on a 
littered floor, facing the wall and about one foot from it. The litter 
will not interfere with the operation of the trap. The style shown in 
figure 2 is the most economical to prepare as no hinges are needed, but 
it is more difficult to handle the hen, and, if nervous, she is likely to 
get away from the attendant. The style shown by fig. 3 has the 
advantage that the fear door being hinged at the bottom drops down 
and deep litter in the pen will not interfere with its being opened. 

The style shown in fig. 6 is the best one of these three styles. It 
will not be much trouble to clear away what litter may pile up against 
the back and when the door is opened the hen is not so likely to leap 
upward toward the light that, with the drop - down door, is first ad- 
mitted from the top when the door is being opened. 

Having described these several styles and given my opinion of their 
comparative merits, that may or may not agree with others, I recom- 
mend that, after reading the directions regarding the location of the 
nests in the pen, the style or styles of nests that are desired be selected 
and enough boxes be obtained to fit up at least one pen completely. 
Prepare all of these boxes for the application of the attachments. 
Then make, or have made, enough attachments to fit up all of the boxes. 
Then hang and adjust the attachments, following the directions 



THE BEST STYLE OF NEST TO USE 29 

explicitly. It will be well to have the hen-opening exactly 8 by 8 
inches as the measurements given for adjusting the trap-plate and 
pawl arc based upon thai cxad size. 

After the boxes are all finished and ready for work, place them in 
the pen and remove every other ncsl of whatever kind or nature. 
This for besl results. The Ideal is not ashamed to go into company, 
good or bad, but when it tackles a job of this kind it likes to handle it 
alone and then it knows that the work will be done right. 

Placing one trap nest in a pen of hens, expecting to learn much about 
the nest or the hens, is about as reasonable as it would be to expect one 
man to carry a grand piano up a flight of stairs. The man might be 
able and willing to do his part but he could not, and would not try to 
do much more than that. 

If the reader, after he has tested a complete equipment of Ideal nests 
long enough to understand them, and the relation that a single, soli- 
tary trap nest bears to a flock — even a very small flock — of hens, and 
considers that probably nine-tenths of the unsatisfactory trap nest tests 
that have been made have been apparently made on that basis, he can 
form his own opinion of some expert judgement and will perhaps say 
with Schiller: "Against stupidity the gods are powerless." 

One trap nest is of no practical use to anyone unless he can rightfully 
use it as a model from which to make a complete equipment. "One 
trap nest is enough for five hens" is true if only one hen is laying and 
the others let the nest alone, but if two hens are laying it is not enough, 
unlesss both are able to occupy it at once — as they are very likely to do 
with some traps. 

I do not know as anyone in particular is responsible for the very 
prevalent notion that one trap can be made a satisfactory test of its own 
merits and of the practicability of the trap nest system. 

It seems to be due to the all too common tendency of people to jump 
at conclusions, to assume that they understand a thing before they 
can know anything about it, and to ignore completely all competent 
authority. 

Experience in the care of poultry justifies no man in assuming that 
he is competent to judge of the practicality of the individual system or 
of the appliances used in connection with it until he has been qualified 
by adequate experience with the system and its accessories. 

The average daily egg yield and the length of time between the visits 
of the attendant are the only factors that determine the correct number 
of trap nests to place in the pen. The ego- yield is the most important 
to be considered of these two. As many uests will be needed if they 
cost three dollar- each as if they cost bul three cents each. If the nests 
are m> large that there cannot be found room for enough of them it will 
not lessen the need of more. "One box sufficient for each pen" in an 



30 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

advertisement means that all the nests are made together, as a group of 
Ideal nests can be made if desired. It is, in my opinion, a bad plan 
and I advise against it. The nests should be single and separate so 
that they can be moved readily, taken out of doors and cleaned if 
need be, and arranged in the pen as convenience and circumstances 
may dictate. 

This whole matter of the construction, arrangement and use of 
trap nests is so very simple when once understood that such a treatise 
as this would seem to be unnecessary did the author not know how 
little the matter is really understood. 

I am writing frankly, and as plainly as I know how, as an instructor 
and I trust that each reader is an earnest student and willing to learn. 

Should he have but a small flock and a roomy house and grasp my 
meaning and understand its importance at once, he may think that I am 
long-winded and take too much time to explain obvious matters. If so, 
I will remind him that there are others with larger flocks, differently 
constructed houses and various conditions to contend with that make 
the matter of trap-nest installation a fair problem. There are also some 
with heads so full of original( ?) notions that it is pretty hard to crowd 
in a practical truth without causing concussion of the brain. I hope to 
have a large class and they will be varied in their individual make-up 
and be surrounded bv conditions differing widely. 



ONE OR TWO COMPARTMENTS; WHICH ? 

Either the single or double compartment ideas for a nest box are not 
patented or patentable. Those who would like to divide their nest 
boxes into two parts, one for the nest and one for a "waiting room" 
can do so without infringing upon anyone's rights. I designed, years 
ago, quite a number of two-compartment nests and have also used and 
examined many others. 

Our Ideal nest box can be made about two feet long and divided by 
fastening a 4 inch strip across the center of the box, or a box some 2£ 
feet long with the hen-opening made in the side can be used. This 
side can be hinged at the bottom so as to be opened downward. A 
strip four inches wide and of suitable length can be nailed across the 
box diagonally and the nest placed in one corner. After the hen has 
remained on the nest as long as she desires (from five minutes to as 
many hours) she may come off and wait patiently to be released or, if 
she is nervous, she may race back and forth on and off the nest. She 
can pull her egg out of the nest or eat it where it is, if she knows how. 
She can roost on the edge and soil the nest if she likes, and she is far 
more likely to do this than were she in the nest itself. 



THE CARE OF THE NESTS 31 

Personally I do not care for a two-compartment nest. I have had 
more eggfi broken in two-compartment nests than in single apartments. 
The fad thai some types of traps require so large a box led me to aban- 
don such types and design a new type and fully protect it by letters 
patent. My customers can use any kind of box that they choose, pro- 
vided it is large enough, in combination with the Ideal front and trap 
device. 



THE CARE OF THE NESTS. 

The nest-containing portion of the nest-box should be deep enough 
and tight enough to contain and retain a quantity of straw, or hay. 
sufficient to make a good nest. One that in use will always provide an 
elastic cushion to break the tall of the rgg. A hen stands when laying 
an egg, paradoxical as it may seem to some. Sand is good for use 
under the nest material. 

This supply of nest material should be maintained. I have allowed 
my nests to remain entirely devoid of nest material for months at a 
time. The nests were used just the same without the nest material as 
with, its absence or presence made no difference. Eggs that had strong 
shells were not broken, weak-shelled eggs often were, as they are 
likely to be in any nests. In practical use an abundance of nest ma- 
terial should be provided. 

The nests, if kept clean, will discourage the breeding of lice and 
ensure greater cleanliness of the eggs. When droppings are found in 
the nest they should be removed. It is said to be a '''mean bird that 
will foul her own nest" but in practice very nice birds will do so. It 
is not always due to the hen remaining in the nest box too long, not by 
any means. Hens very frequently void excrement at the very moment 
that the egg drops. For this reason soiled eggs are not entirely pre- 
ventable. 

I have found common kerosene oil an effectual preventative of lice in 
the nest boxes. 1 spray it in, on and around them thoroughly with a 
50 cent tin sprayer that gives a mist-like spray. But little oil is wasted. 

By spraying the nests late in the afternoon, after laying has practi- 
cally ceased for the day. the hens are disturbed but little by the sound 
of the escaping spray. The oil will evaporate from the nest material 
sufficiently before morning so that the egg> laid tin 1 following day are 
not impregnated with it. At least I have found it so. If in doubt this 
test, can be made with caution at a time when the eggs are not being 
used for hatching. 1 spray the nest material thoroughly with this 
fine spray at any time when I feel like it, and eggs used on the family 
table are all right. Remember: I counsel caution in this regard. Nest 
material damp with kerosene will not injure the hen. I have never 



32 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

known it to injure an egg\ Satisfy yourself by actual test before de- 
pending upon my experience. 

If the care of the nest boxes is a periodical occurrence they should be 
taken out of doors, thoroughly cleaned, kerosined and filled with fresh 
nest material. The styles of boxes herein described are admirably 
adapted for convenience when cleaning up time comes. 

That reminds me of the story of Augeus a fabulous king of Elis who 
won fame as the possessor of a stable, containing 3,000 oxen, that had 
not been cleaned for thirty years. Hercules cleaned it out in a single 
day. Could some modern Hercules be pressed into service on all of 
the poultry plants that are in a condition similar to that of the stable of 
Augeus the increased egg production of the country that would result 
might have a serious effect on the egg market. 

COLLECTING EGGS* 

There is a familiar saying that practice makes perfect. The chronic 
guesser may have heard the saying but is seldom willing to apply it 
impartially. 

An experience of several years with trap nests, during which time I 
have personally collected forty thousand eggs, more or less, from them, 
is no doubt responsible for a view of this matter that differs materially 
from that obtaining among those who, for various reasons, desire to 
bring discredit upon the individual system, those who have adopted it 
and the appliances necessary to use in connection with it. 

It is claimed by some, who have had more or less experience in 
handling poultry or writing upon the subject, that, even admitting the 
value of this system in the abstract, the attention of traps consumes 
time that could better be employed in other directions. It has been 
figured out on paper — the same process that they accuse us of applying 
to our arguments — that, if it takes one minute to collect and record 
one egg it would take six hundred minutes, or ten hours, to collect six 
hundred eggs. Six hundred eggs, they claim, at current market prices 
will not bring enough to warrant us in spending ten hours in collecting 
them and recording the numbers of the hens that laid them. 

This is the sum and substance — shorn of a lot of superflous verbiage — 
of the arguments, wise and otherwise, that our critics have written. 

Several of these same critics have, at one time or another, when the 
trap nest was not their text, placed themselves on record by asserting 
that, to be successful with poultry, one must devote considerable time to 
them. One of our most practical editors, a man whom, I believe, is 
sincerely trying to upbuild the poultry business as hard as any writer 
we have, says: "The successful poultryman is the one who is constant- 
ly with his hens," and he does not exclude, as should be done, the 



COLLECTING frGGS 33 

ke< >> i of a few hens, who, obviously, cannot afford to spend all of his 
Kiu vith a small flock. 

.vill admit that logic docs not always receive the support of prac- 
ice, but, I am sure, we can show Logic that is horn of practice that will 
i- ute the arguments to which I have referred. 

! am fully cognizanl of that army of poultry keepers who keep hens 
as a bide issue and are employed in shop, store, office or elsewhere dur- 
ing most, or all, of the day. They are often unable to derive any of 
the advantages that would accompany the use of bone cutters, incuba- 
tors and brooders, or some of the thousand-and-onc things that are, 
very properly, offered to the fraternity in general, without criticism, 
in the advertising columns of our poultry papers. Others of this class 
can use some, or all. of those things to more or less advantage. It is 
ii<»t a matter for us to determine for others, but one that must be set- 
tled by each person for himself. 

[ claim that any person who has spare time enough to justify him in 
attempting to breed and raise chickens with a view to honestly obtained 
profit can derive sufficient benefit from an installation of Ideal nests to 
warrant all necessary outlay. 

My argument here is based upon what have become generally — ac- 
cepted rules for good poultry-keeping and, like all such rules, must be 
modified by circumstances. 

It is a somewhat bootless task to attempt to time, by watch, every 
distinct duty of the poultry yard or farm. It will take some time to 
tell how long if takes to do a thing. The workman who pays strict 
attention to the work in hand without too much regard for the fleeting 
moments will, as a rule, do better work and do it more quickly than 
the one who grabs out his watch every few minutes, for fear that he 
will work over time, and, figuratively speaking, leaves his hammer in 
the air when the whistle blows. 

If our hens lay. the eggs must be gathered. It i> admitted by all 
good poultry men that it is good practice to gather them frequently. 

In cold weather, with open nests, eggs left too long in the nests be- 
come chilled. In warm weather they do not cool sufficiently if left too 
long, especially when they are covered by hens much of the time, as 
they are more likely to be in summer than in winter if not gathered 
until night. Eggs left in the nests induce broodiness, and much of 
the poultryman's troubles in summer with broody hens thathedoes not 
want, can be obviated by frequently collecting the vgg>. Now all of 
this is not original with me. These facts are known to all experienced 
poultry raisers, and thousands of them collect their eggs regularly two 
or three, and often four or five times per day, the year 'round. All, 
do not. Some cannot, others will not; but they should be gathered 
sometime and not a few spend considerable time hunting in hay mows, 



34: TI.IK TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

hedge rows, fence corners and other out-of-the-way places for the fruit 
of the festive hen. 

The time required to collect eggs from trap nests as opposed to the 
time required without them is the difference between the two, if any. 

Many people under the ordinary system arrange matters in such a 
way that "too much time" is required for many things, including egg 
collections. The same is true under this system. 

If, under the old system, it takes fifteen minutes to collect a given 
number of eggs, and under the new system it takes twenty minutes, 
then five minutes is all the time that we can charge to the new method, 
not twenty minutes. 

A complete adoption of the individual system may require a radical 
change in several directions, from the former methods of some poultry 
keepers. 

It seems to me that this system is simple ; far more simple than any 
other plan that I have yet heard of, that gave equal promise of sure 
results . 

The general aim and design should be to collect the eggf< when other 
duties are performed. 

The other work can be arranged to work in harmony with the egg 
collections. My way may not be the best way for everyone but it has 
worked well here for several years. 

I do not feed the morning meal early. I can conceive of no possible 
reason why it should be fed early, as far as the welfare of the hens is 
concerned. 

I intend that laying shall be well started for the day before breakfast 
is fed. At this time I glance at the nests and remove such birds as are 
in them that they may eat, if they wish. Such eggs as are found are 
taken and the birds' numbers marked on the slip. When I have taken 
the trouble to time the operation I have found that I could collect and 
record about six eggs in one minute. Several numbers can be easily 
retained in the memory and recorded on the slip at once. 

This may require some practice. Begin with two and gradually in- 
crease. Many people would be able to remember a half dozen or more 
numbers easily and accurately. This would make considerable differ- 
ence with a large flock. I give fresh water twice a day and collect 
eggs at the same time. When a noon meal is fed that also includes an 
egg collection. The time consumed in going from the feed room to the 
poultry houses, and from one pen to another is not charged up to trap 
nests but to the feeding. 

When no noon meal is given I make a special egg collection. At mid- 
afternoon (evening south) 1 water the second time and this is the last 
collection until supper is fed. My flock has never much exceeded 200 



RECORD KEEPING 35 

birds. It ii were larger there would be more incidental work and 
the advantages of this plan be emphasized. 

The actual labor connected with the continuous use of trap nests is 
in the record keeping; if continuous records are kept. If this form of 
record keeping is not worth the labor then no kind of record keeping 
is. 

A completely-kept individual-record sheet is a memorandum and a 
chart all in one. Almost anything that we want to know about our 
birds will be disclosed or suggested on the record sheet. Nothing can 
take its place, but it requires time to keep this daily log. 

The attention of the nests need be only an incident in the round of 
daily duties thai the rules of good poultry keeping require. The birds 
will become accustomed to any reasonable and regular system. If the 
caretaker's visits are frequent the birds will learn to expect them. If 
not so frequent they will learn to be patient. Hysterical concern for 
the welfare of the hen should be guarded against. 

t During hot weather extra care must be exercised. The birds should 
not be allowed to become overheated while on or off of the nests. 
Observation will show that overfeeding is one of the dangers during 
hot weather and the over fat and occasional layer is more likely to suf- 
fer than the persistent layer. 

RECORD KEEPING. 

The laying hens should be provided with numbered leg bands. 
When the hen is removed from the nest her number should be marked 
on the egg or on a record sheet kept for the purpose. These record 
sheets are generally tacked on a board and hung up in the pen. When 
the flocks are kept in long houses it is a good plan to have the leg bands 
on the right leg in the first pen. the left leg in the second, the right leg 
in the third, and so on. If, perchance, biddy gets into the adjoining 
pen. this difference in the position of the leg band may be quickly 
noticed by the attendant, who may have seen her go in but might other- 
wise be unable to distinguish her from the rest. 

The right way to handle a hen when taking her number. i> to tuck 
her under the left arm, head first. The leg with the band is then lifted 
and the number noted. The hens will offer considerable resistance at 
first, but they -<»on become very tame, giving no trouble whatever. 
The bands should be put on upside down to facilitate reading when the 
bird is in this position. 

ttecord keeping will require much or little time, according to the 
object for which the record is kept. A'record for the purpose of pedi- 
gree breeding will necessarily be more complicated than one that is 
kept merely to ascertain the laying qualities of individual hens. Each 



:h; the trap nest text book 

should adopt a system that is best adapted to his particular require- 
ments and the time at his disposal. 

The method that I am using at present is very simple and takes bnt 
little time. In beginning', I hang- up a quantity of leg bands in each 
pen and band each bird that lays, when she is taken from the nest; the 
non-layers are not numbered. By this plan I am able to distinguish 
the layers from those that have not begun to lay at a glance. A block 
of blank paper and a pencil is hung up in each pen. When the eggs 
are collected the hens' numbers are marked on the paper and such 
remarks as to their condition, etc., as may seem desirable, are added. 
At night these slips are torn off and the record copied on the record 
sheet at any convenient time. The daily memorandum concerns the 
laying hens only ; it is unnecessary to make a cipher when no egg is 
laid: the square being blank indicates that plainly enough. The addi- 
tions are made as the eggs are put down ; the last day in the month 
that a given hen lays gives her total for the month. If a hen lays two 
eggs in one day (which does not happen as often as some suppose) thejr 
may be put down in one square. 

In the breeding season a list of the hens that we want to breed 
from is tacked up beside the record blanks and their eggs are marked 
and dated when collected . When the eggs are tested it is noted if all 
or nearly all of the eggs laid by any one hen are infertile. Breeders 
who sell eggs for hatching may thus, to a certain extent, avoid sending 
infertile eggs to their customers. A saving of time is an important 
consideration with us and this system permits of the eggs being col- 
lected more quickly and the book-keeping is done "after hours." 

By using the various letters noted on the sample record-blank that 
accompanies each set of Ideal Plans and Permit a permanent record of 
the condition and disposition of each bird is made. A space is left for 
remarks of any kind. Record can be made of the date of the first egg 
of the pullet and also of the current market prices of eggs each month. 
The back of each sheet is blank and any data relating to rations and the 
expense of same can be noted there. I recommend that everything of 
importance be noted down on these blanks each night. The blanks 
when filled can be filed away by pens or by months as preferred ; suit- 
able clips for holding them together are easily obtained. Almost any 
information that one could desire in regard to the past history or pres- 
ent condition of his flocks can be obtained from these individual records . 
By adopting a regular and convenient system for doing this work the 
record keeper will soon acquire skill, not only in keeping the records 
but in reading them. 

Proof of totals can be obtained by adding the perpendicular month- 
ly-total column and the horizontal daily-total column separately ; the 



RECORD KEEPING :>7 

result should be the same in the squave at tbe bottom of tbo monthly 
totals. , 

I prefer to keep these blanks in the bouse because I can collect the 
eggs taster when I roughly record them on slips of common paper bung 
in the pens, and because tbe printed sheets can be kept clean in the 
house. Neglect will make this work very laborious; regularity and 
interest will make it easy and a pleasure. 

Those who wish to adopt a complete pedigree system should cor- 
respond with Beecher & Beecher, Belleville, Kansas who have a full 
page ad. in the back part of this book. They have very skillfully 
adapted tbe famous card-index system to the poultry breeder's use. I 
have just received one of their complete outfits and find it to be just 
what they claim. 

Wben pedigree records are kept the breeder keeps track of the eggs 
of (Mich female until tbe chicks are hatched when the chicks are toe- 
punched. Many of the poultry papers handle these punches. H. A. 
Kuhns, Atlanta, Ga. also handles a fine one. The following- different 
marks can be punched in the web between the toes of young" chicks, or 
adult fowls, and causes no pain or injury. 

A ] A , A 2 A , A ' A -, A * A , A ^ A a'a, 
A 7 A , A 8 A . A 5 A , A " A , A " A . A " A . 



A A. A A . A A , 

The eggs of each hen can be kept separate under sitting- hens or by 
using a pedigree tray in tbe incubator. In the latter case the pedigree 
tray is not put in until the last time the eggs are turned on the 18th 
day. These trays keep each lot of eggs separate and also the chicks 
after they come out. 

The information obtained in this way is of the greatest value to the 
breeder. Many of tbe persistent defects in our fancy breeds could soon 
be bred out if the breeder would discover and reject the hens that are 
responsible for them. It is the writer's belief that such faults as the 
single comb in Wyandottes and other rose-comb families, as well as 
plumage defects and the like can begot rid of by pursuing- this course. 

I found this year that one of my most remarkable layers, a very 
homely bird with a bad comb, gave me some fine cockerels with five 
point combs of good shape and texture. The sire also had a very ordi- 
nary comb. These things are well known by expert breeders but they 
are seriously handicapped under the ordinary system. 



38 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

Poultry breeding is getting- down to a genuine business proposition 
and no man can foretell the outcome. The time may come, possibly, 
when more breeders can produce birds that will substantiate their ad- 
vertized claims. 

USING THE NESTS OPEN* 

The Ideal is especially adapted for those who are unable, or do not 
wish to keep continuous individual egg records. There are many 
cases where it is desirable to separate the layers from the non-layers. 
A hen that is laying requires more food than when she is not laying 
and it is impossible to feed a flock properly that contains laying and 
non-laying hens running together. 

It is by no means necessary to keep count of the number of eggs laid 
by each hen for a whole year in order to determine if she is a good lay- 
er. That absurd idea has produced lots of trouble for many people. 
Incidentally the idea has been responsible for much ignorant writing on 
both sides of the question. We cannot, in any general extent, deter- 
mine a hen's value as a layer without a record, in black and white, of 
her laying habit. 

It does not require a year to get this however. When, for any 
reason, it is desirable to use the Ideal as an open nest all we have to do 
is to push up the trap plate and tighten the screw. If the opening in 
the top, shown in tig. 5 of plan sheet, is made, the trap plate can be 
raised on top of the pawl. 

Mr. Victor D. Caneday makes his Ideal nest boxes 14 inches wide 
and by raising the trap plate high enough the pawl drops down out of 
the way and the trap plate will then move back and forth without lock- 
ing. The hen pushes her way in as usual and pushes her way out after 
laying. Mr. Caneday likes this plan much better than mine. This 
will not work unless the box is about 13 or 14 inches wide. 

By using the nests as traps when convenient, we can determine which 
birds are laying and the kind of eggs that they are giving us. 

By using them as traps during the spring, we find the birds that are 
laying the most egg^ per week or month and can identify the hen that 
produces each egg that we use for hatching. 

By using the nests as traps in the fall with the pullets, we find which 
are the first to lay, which start in laying freely and the kind of egg each 
is giving us. With the hens we can pick out and note those that lay 
during their molt. In short we can use the Ideal as open nests or trap* 
ad libitum and they are the host of their kind either way. 

I recommend that continuous records be kept whenever it is possible 
and all of the advantages of the individual system be derived. 



BRIEF POINTERS 39 

BRIEF POINTERS, 

Small, deep, semi-dark nests will prevent egg-eating. 

Moving non-layers into another pen will often start them laying. 

ll is not necessary to release a hen as soon as she has laid. 

Coiled the eggs as often as yon wish. While three or four times a 
day will answer if yon have nests enough, still in many cases it will be 
found desirable to gather them every two hours during that part of the 
day when the hens are laying the most eggs, say, 10, 12, 2 and 4 
o'clock. 

It will not be necessary to examine the nests except when the regular 
egg collections are made: If a hen is anxious to get out, the nest that 
she occupies may be readily ascertained without opening the others. 

Openings made for ventilation should not be large enough to admit a 
hen's head. 

If low boxes are used they should be 18 or 20 inches long. 

Discard the not eggs; they chill the hens in winter, and are a pro- 
lific cause of broken eggs. 

If nest material be used in the passage in front of the nests, some 
of the hens may lay in the passage instead of the nests. This will 
account for some of the cases where a hen is supposed to have laid two 
eggs in one day; she may not have laid at all, but pulled the egg^ in 
from the outside. This will not be possible with the Ideal, made as 
directed. 

When the Ideal is made and used as recommended in these plans, 
there is little danger that the egg will be broken by the hen when try- 
ing to escape. My hens have laid thousands of eggs in such nests with- 
out an egg being broken or eaten in them. 

One-half as many nests as there are laying hens is a safe rule to follow 
with a heavy laying stock, when collections are made but three or four 
times a day. If all of the nests are frequently found occupied at one 
lime there are not enough of them in the pen. 

When the boxes are made with openings in the back and used in 
row- facing the wall, they should all be made that way as the hens may 
avoid the lighter nest> for the darker ones if they are not all alike. 

If a nest i> not used at all there is a reason for it. 

If a hen can't rind a nest that suits her she may lay on the floor. 

Thin shelled eggs are liable to he broken in any nests. Clover, 
green bone, oyster shells, grit and exercise will ensure good shells. 

A healthy hen that has laid in the trap nests a few times will seldom, 
if ever, lay outside of them unless she is unable to find a nest that 
pleases her. 

The box with the cover in the top is cheaper to construct, but the hen 
is more likely to get away when the box is opened. 



40 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

A hen will often go on the nest several days before beginning to lay. 

At feeding time all hens on the nests should be allowed to come off. 
If hens are released at any time between the regular rounds, their eggs 
may be placed temporarily in a vacant nest which should be locked ; or 
an 'egg rack may be provided for this purpose. 

In a scratching shed house a platform at the back of the scratching 
shed will be a cooler location for the nests in summer than the space 
under the roosts in the roosting room. 

Use the same kind of nest material in all the nests in the pen ; if the 
same kind of material is used for litter all the better. 

Hens will, in time, learn to use almost any kind of a nest. 

A box 14 inches long may be placed on top of a box 18 inches long; 
this gives the hens a chance to reach the upper box which should be se- 
cured so that it will not be pushed off. The more floor space given the 
hens the better they will lay. 

Clean straw or hay is the best nest material ; sand or dirt sticks to 
the eggs. Sand is good under the nest material. 

The nest boxes may be made 24 inches or more long and divided into 
two apartments if desired. There is this objection to such construction 
however. The hen will sometimes pull her egg into the " waiting- 
room" where it is likely to be broken if the bottom is bare. If nest 
material be placed in both compartments the hen will often lay in the 
"waiting room." Nervous hens are likely to break their eggs racing- 
back and forth from one apartment to the other. The single apartment 
nest box is the best. 

Don't criticise the Ideal because you think it hard for the hens to get 
in. It is a very simple matter to make it so that it will be easy for a 
hen to enter, but, when we do that, we tempt them to go in when they 
do not wish to lay. A hen will go into an Ideal Nest Box when she 
wants to lay an egg if she has to climb a foot to do it, but she will rare- 
ly make such an attempt at any other time unless broody. 




CHAPTER IV 



Trap Nests vs. Observation. Culling for profit. 

TRAP NESTS vs. OBSERVATION. 

Should the figures seem to lie 
We must prove the lie by figures 
Or the "figures do not lie." 

THOSE who have kept careful records of the doings of individual 
hens have often reported egg - yields that seem so large, to some 
people, that they absolutely refuse to credit them. If we ask such a 
skeptic why he doubts he will give the reason, said to be such a favorite 
with women: "because." He may add: "it is unreasonable." "Be- 
cause it is unreasonable" is no argument. When a man who knows 
anything about the egg-producing capacities and habits of individual 
hens questions the accuracy of a reported egg record he will be able to 
justify his doubts by an exhibition of facts, or figures obtained in the 
same way that those whose records he questions obtained theirs. Other 
an i.se we must doubt the doubter. 

I am in the mood to make a comparison between the observation the- 
ory of keeping track of the laying hens, as it appears to me when hand- 
ling my own hens, and the trap-nest system. Any trap-nest user is able 
to make the comparison ; without trap nests it cannot be made. Any 
theory that does not furnish the means for proving its own reliability is 
a pretty weak theory. A book of tins character seems like a good place 
to give rules that might be misleading elsewhere. 

I cannot give all of the theories of which I have heard, but can give 
those that 1 have tested. 

The bright, active, energetic hen will be in evidence in any flock on 
earth, that is properly fed and cared for. If we like, we can catch her, 
put a numbered leg band on her, and record her doings in the trap 
nest. 

If there is any other way to find out what she is good for, it is outlined 
a little farther on. 

There is a condition of the pelvic or posterior bones that is theoreti- 
cally so reliable a test for a laying hen that I urge the reader to test it, 
if he be interested and has time, and see if he finds it reliable. A few 
hundred hens and a set of trap nests ought to show the careful student 
if there is anything in it. A writer in Farm Poultry claimed that the 
opening between the pelvic or posterior bones of a bird is larger during 
:i period of ego- production than at other times. This corresponds to a 



42 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

similar condition with mammals when giving birth to their young. 
Perhaps, in their wild state, birds may show this condition more than 
does the domestic hen. However accurately we might be able to dis- 
tinguish a layer from a non-layer by noting if the pelvic bones were 
near together or wide apart, the test would be valueless as far as being- 
able to distinguish a good layer from a poor layer was concerned. For 
separating layers from non-layers it would be useful, if reliable. I 
have been unable to make anything of it as yet. 

It reminds me somewhat of the man who wrote to a heating engineer 
for certain estimates. He said that his chimney was a large one, and 
had a good draft. The engineer asked him how large his chimney was, 
as large chimneys were from four to forty feet square. It depended 
upon the point of view of the man who owned the chimney. When I 
hear of a flock of "heavy layers" I sometimes think of the same story. 

An editor advised a subscriber to separate the hens with the scarlet 
combs from the others as they were the layers and should be fed heavier. 
I wondered, when I read that, what the subscriber would do if all of 
his hens had scarlet combs and none of them were laying. Now the 
color of comb has no particular bearing upon egg production, except 
indirectly. A well nourished bird will have a scarlet comb, if she is 
old enough to mate, and in good health. The combs of both the male 
and the female indicate the same thing. A scarlet comb may show that 
a hen should be laying, but it does not show that she is laying. If all 
of the reader's laying hens happen to have scarlet combs, and all of his 
non-layers happen to have paler combs, it will not disprove what I have 
just written. 

There are thousands of scarlet-combed hens and pullets that are not 
laying now (September) and may not lay for months. There are thou- 
sands of hens with paler combs that have been laying for a long time, 
are laying now, and will lay for some time. A layer, on a long run of 
egg production, is likely to pale, more or less, if not adequately nour- 
ished, or if lice are troubling her; but otherwise she may hold her color 
all right. I have birds that have made a straight run of something like 
200 eggs each and their combs are as bright as could be desired. They 
get plenty of food, pure air and water. I don't know how they are 
fixed for lice, I havn't looked. 

I am compelled, by reasons that would not interest the reader, to ne- 
glect many details of management that are of more or less importance, 
and have considerable bearing upon egg production. I have also, at 
times, systematically practiced neglect for the purpose of studying the 
relations of cause and effect as shown by the behavior of the distinct 
and separate individuals in the flock. Any thing that may appear 
strange and incredible in this book may be charged to my point of view. 



TRAP NESTS VS. OBSERVATION 43 

I have kept liens so long under this system thai it is difficult for me to 
write of a flock as a single unit as ii is customary to do. 

To me they are a group <>t' individuals resembling each other in out- 
ward appearance more than in any other respect. Each bird has a dis- 
position, a habit, an appetite, and a productive ability that is different, 
in greater or less degree, from every other bird. Yon can no more tell 
how good a layer a bird is by lookingat her, feeling of her, or watch- 
ing her, than you could tell by looking at the writer bow much "copy" 
he could turn our in a day. 

If the reader would like to know the most reliable way to pick out 
the layers from the non-layers by observation without living in the 
poultry house and catching them in the act I will tell him. [f the 
roosts are arranged at the back of the poultry house, where all of the 
lighl comes from the front, and they are level and in pairs, the hens that 
are laying will be found on the front roost. This is because they are 
the last to go to roost at night. They are the last to go to roost 
at night because they have the greatest appetite. They have the 
greatest appetite because they have to feed themselves and also the 
eggs. If but one roost is used the layers will be on that portion of the 
roost that is the last to become dark. So far this theory is worthless, 
for you have not tested it. Now place numbered leg bands on these 
birds, for you cannot identify them otherwise, and record the numbers 
on the Avail. Put in your trap nests and see if the birds with the leg- 
bands are not the ones that use the nests, if they are not, then this 
theory fail-. I have tried it several times and it worked. One has to 
have trai» nests, however, to test it. There is one slight difficulty that 
I will mention. Should the rear roost be too short to hold all of the 
non-layers, that went to roost first, some of them may be on the front 
roost. Should the roost be single it will also be impossible to tell 
where to begin the selection. 

I )oes the reader wish to know how to select his best layers by observa- 
tion? 1 will tell him. Select the birds with the reddest combs and band 
them and record the numbers. Now call on the trap nests for proof. 
Remove the bands from such of the red combed birds as the trap nest 
shows are not laying and place them on the paler combed birds that 
are laying. Now the trap nests can be continued in use an.d the record 
kept with their aid, or you can open them and spend all of your time 
watching the birds. They will soon become accustomed to your pres- 
ence in the pen and will go right about their business. "When you 
think that a bird has laid an egg, (she may announce it, or she may 
not,) go and get the bird and the egg. If the egg is wet, and the bird 
is on the nest, or just about to leave it. it is probably her egg. Other- 
wise it is all off for that egg. If satisfied, then record the bird's num- 
ber. Keep this up for one month and you will get an approximate idea 



44 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

of those birds that happen to be laying the best during- that month. If 
you wish to knoAV which birds are paying you the best, which are pro- 
ducing, or are likely to produce the most eggs during the year, you 
can arrange a system from what I have described, or you can use Ideal 
trap nests and follow the teachings of this book, whichever you think 
will be the easiest, the most reliable, and will take the least time. 

The actual truth of the matter is that we cannot, in any practical way, 
tell which are our most profitable layers, or which are the best females 
to use as breeders in order to improve the laying qualities of our strain, 
without a record, in black and white, of the laying habit of each indi- 
vidual. Every scheme, of whatever kind or nature, that has yet been 
advanced for obtaining such a record without trapping the hen and her 
egg not only involves a greater expenditure of time and labor, but is 
less reliable than a correct installation of Ideal trap nests rationally at- 
tended. 

I will allow that unthinking or uninformed people may, in all sincer- 
ity dispute this claim ; but when an experienced poultry keeper, be he 
a clergyman, a civil engineer or what not, or merely a common every- 
day liar, claims that he has a method by which "the hens will keep 
their oavu record, and that perfectly," or by which "you can learn all 
that you want to know by observation, without trap nests," my opinion 
of his sincerity, honesty, truthfulness or religion would be unfit for 
publication . 



CULLING FOR PROFIT. 

"Let your own discretion be your tutor." Shakespeare. 
Culling: to separate, select, to pick out. Def. 

The maximum of profit-in-poultry-keeping depends in the greatest 
measure, upon careful, constant, and skillful culling. Retaining doubt- 
ful specimens "to see how they will come out" may be a good plan for 
the student who is willing and able to pay for first-hand knowledge, 
but it costs money. 

If we can succeed, at the expense of much labor and considerable 
money, in getting good results from little promise it does not prove 
that we are warranted in the attempt. Legitimate profit is always (or 
should be) the margin between actual value to the buyer and cost to the 
producer. 

Neglecting to cull out, promptly, all stock, young or old, that is be- 
ing kept at a loss with no promise of future profitableness, means the 
difference between profit and loss with thousands of poultry keepers. 
Even in flocks that, as a whole, pay a profit, a more strict and careful 
culling would increase the profits. 



CULLING FOB PROFIT 45 

I have reason to believe that many who use trap nests make the mis- 
take of retaining birds that have shown good evidence that they will 
never lay profitably with their present owner. Many are also prone to 
use as breeders, birds that, while they may have laid freely, are worse 
than useless as breeders. 

We waul to breed from our best birds, but our best birds are not al- 
ways (hose thai lay the most eggs. A bird that lays steadily, without 
loss of vigor, under fail' conditions, and gives us a good e^, is abetter 
layer and breeder than one thai has nearly laid herself 'to death, under 
hot-house conditions and a forcing ration, even though the latter pro- 
duces a much greater number of i'^s. 

The art of culling wisely and correctly is not easily or quickly ac- 
quired. Every infertile ou:^ that is lost, every chick dead in the shell, 
every weak chick hatched, every unprofitable bird raised and retained, 
means expense and a reduction of profits. 

One market-poultry man has said: "An experienced poultrynian 
can readily choose birds to market, retaining only those that it will 
pat/ to keej> and to feed-" (Italics mine.) This same poultrynian 
shows how he thinks that it can be done by explaining his own method, 
lie says: "Our practice for years has been to market hens at, or near, 
the end of their second laying year. Occasionally a young hen or pul- 
let would be killed for meat as they were not as active and robust as we 
like to see them." (Italics mine.) From this we readily make the de- 
duction that any hen that is active and robust will lay profitably for 
two years, — from laying maturity ; after this she will not lay profita- 
bly. This is very remote from the truth. 

The trap nest, in the hands of one who is willing to learn, will show, 
that, while a skillful feeder, who sells to a not-over-particular buyer, 
may make his business profitable by such extremely simple methods of 
procedure, he is working in the dark and will not only be liable to 
•'kill for meat" birds that had better be burned or buried, but will, un- 
wittingly, sell two-year-olds that might be profitably kept, and retain 
for two years birds that do not lay profitably. 

There is no way known to determine surely that a pullet is likely to 
become a profitable layer for one or two years, until we have gained a 
knowledge of her laying habit. This must be on record in black and 
white and not merely the speculation of a more-or-less unreliable mind 
and memory. To observe closely enough to learn these things accu- 
rately, or even with approximate accuracy, so that they can be record- 
ed, would take more time than the attention of trap nests requires, and 
more time than can profitably be devoted to it. 

The presence in our common markets all over the land of poultry 
that is unfit for human consumption can be accounted for by the neces- 
sity of straining every nerve (and nerve can be given more than one 



46 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

meaning) to get a profit under a system that is illogical and blind. An 
intimate acquaintance with hucksters who buy poultry will enable any- 
one to substantiate this position. 

A story that I will vouch for illustrates the point. A simple minded 
farmer's boy appeared at one of our stores one day with a dressed fowl 
for sale. The merchant asked him: "When was the bird killed?" 
"We didn't kill her, she died," replied the unsophisticated youth. 

Under the trap-nest or individual system, we do not require the aid 
of our nests to cull out, and dispose of, runts and sick birds. We may 
find birds that can be honestly "killed for meat" that the veriest novice 
could tell, by observation, were not producers; but we also find, often 
in large numbers, birds that are not, and will not be good layers, that 
cannot be identified without a knowledge of their laying- habit. 

It is easy to tell that a bird is heavy or light, fat or lean, but we find 
that many good layers are light, many are heavy; some are fat, many 
are lean. The fat that interferes the most with egg production is fre- 
quently found (by killing the bird) to be so located that its presence 
cannot be determined while the bird is alive except by its effect upon 
her laying, or the eggs that she lays. Such birds are often very thin in 
flesh. We are frequently cautioned against overfeeding, but, until we 
succeed in getting our flock into such shape that it will comprise good 
layers only, we cannot feed properly without overfeeding some of the 
birds or underfeeding others. It is quite difficult to overfeed a per- 
sistent layer that is well started on a period of laying if the ration is 
balanced, and exercise is encouraged. 

Great egg production, under normal conditions, is not necessarily a 
great strain upon the bird, but it makes constant and forcible demand 
upon the care-taker for a generous supply of suitable food. 

CULLING- FOE PROFIT should begin with the eggs that are to be 
used for hatching. 

A hen that is well developed, with the reproductive organs in normal 
condition, should produce eggs of even color, (if colored) and good 
shape, with strong shells. If she is properly nourished and in good 
breeding condition the eggs will be of representative size. Abnormally- 
large eggs, porous, rough, or uneven shells, ill shaped eggs, spotted or 
unevenly colored shells, indicate an abnormal condition of the bird, 
probably due to internal fat. 

Small eggs are produced by immature pullets, hens nearing the end 
of a laying period and hens that naturally lay small eggs. 

Occasionally a hen that habitually lays an egg of normal size will 
give us an abnormally-small or -large egg. This, in common with 
double-yolked eggs, poorly-shelled eggs, blood-stained eggs and eggs 
with no shells, I believe is due to a more or less overfat condition. 



CULLING FOR PROFIT 47 

Contrary to. conmion opinion the tirsi <'gg of the pullet is not necessari- 
ly stained with blood. Overfal liens often lay blood-stained eggs. 
Blood upon the tirsi egg of the pullet has been an exception rather than 
a rule in my flocks. 1 have known a pullet to lay a double-yolked egg 
for her first. 

While (^ggs (hat are small for the breed are often hatchable, and may 
produce strong chicks, they should, as a rule, be avoided. 

Abnormally-large, double-yolked eggs, and eggs of bad shape orpoor 
shells seldom hatch. If they do they are likely to produce weak chicks, 
cripples or monstrosities. They should be avoided. The claim is 
made that thin-shelled eggs and eggs without shells (soft-shelled, so- 
called.) are due (o an absence of shell-making- materials in the ration. 
This may be true in some cases, but I have never been able to prove it 
so in my (locks. The absence of lime, and other shell makers, tends to 
induce mal-assimilation, and the formation of internal fat. This condi- 
tion promotes the production of abnormal eggs. By withholding oys- 
ter shell, bone and clover I have reduced the egg yield, but what eggs 
were laid were as well shelled as when those materials were supplied. 

With a constant and abundant supply of shell making material some 
individuals would produce thin-shelled eggs and ••soft-shelled"" eggs. 
It was quite clearly accompanied by an overfat condition. 

It is my belief that a lien in normal condition will not lay more eggs 
than she can shell properly. Hence a lack of shell-making material in 
the ration will diminish (he egg yield. Whatever effect it may have on 
the shell is secondary, not primary. 

In selecting eggs for hatching, (hen. weshouldcull out all abnormal 
eggs and all eggs (hat are small for (he breed, no matter how good the 
hens that produced them may appear to be, or what their previous egg- 
record has been. 

If we are breeding for egg production, we will use for hatching only 
eggs of good shape and size having strong shells of good texture and 
smooth surface and (if colored) even color, laid by individuals that have 
shown by (heir work in the nest that they are likely to transmit a per- 
sistent laying habit, together with other desired features, to their off- 
spring; and are in active, vigorous, breeding condition in the breed- 
ing season. I appreciate the extent of the task that I have set before 
you. 

With all our care we may have more culling to do when the hatch is 
off. Sickly sentiment has no place here. Every chick that is crippled, 
weak, puny, dumpish, "had-to-be-helped-out-of-the-shell," should be 
dot roved. A convenient and humane way is to insert the hand in a 
pail of water for a minute. The chick should be in the hand. 

This is a hard thing to do but i( should be done. Such chicks will 
never be of any honest value to anyone. 



48 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

As the chicks grow they should be carefully observed aud unprom- 
ising specimens destroyed. 

A chick that once gets a serious set-back will never lay well or be fit 
to head a breeding pen . 

When our pullets begin to lay we will notice a great difference in 
them, unless we have been extremely fortunate in our choice of stock 
and our previous culling. 

They should, by this time, have become perfectly at home in their 
laying houses, — quite an important matter. It is assumed that they 
are reasonably free from vermin and are being fed as well as the owner 
knows how. Under these conditions some may begin to lay regularly 
and freely, some may lay irregularly, while others may not lay. If a 
good supply of Ideal trap nests are furnished, the majority of the pul- 
lets will probably begin to lay in them. (I say probably because no 
human mind can foretell surely what a flock of pullets will, or will not 
do. Were I governed solely by my own experience and the experiences 
of a large number of Ideal users I should omit the word probably.) 
Some of the pullets may not use the nests and these should be regarded 
with suspicion from the start. 

There are exceptions to nearly all rules, but my experience has been 
that when the installation of nests was correct and adequate those pullets 
that failed to use them have turned out badly as a rule. We should not, 
at this time, judge too hastily. Some of those pullets that are slow to 
begin laying, or lay irregularly at first, may make our very best layers. 

While I think that the most common mistake is to hold uuprofitable 
stock too long, I will cautiou against condemning a bird too quickly. 

A case in point is that reported by a correspondent of mine, a well- 
known breeder, who thought that he had made such a mistake. This 
gentleman is away a good deal and employs a man. Last fall he had 
some pullets that did not begin to lay as soon as he thought that they 
ought and he sold them. The person who bought them had no other 
birds and kept a record of these. They averaged 216 eggs each in a 
little less than eleven months. The gentleman who sold the birds has a- 
little more faith in what is called early maturity than I, and I think that 
he condemned them too soon. Their good record in other hands did 
not, I think, prove that they would have done as well had he kept 
them. A change of environment will make peculiar changes, some 
times, and they cannot always be accounted for. 

In our haste we are apt to confound sexual maturity with bodily ma- 
turity. I am not yet prepared to believe that the precocious layer will 
make the best layer, or a good breeder of good layers. 

The limiting of the profitable laying-life of a hen to two years natur- 
ally accompanies a belief in forced sexual maturity. If we propose to 
get a foundation stock of breeding birds that will lay a large number of 



CULLING FOR PROFIT 4<t 

good eggs,, early laying should not be forced. Forcing, or encouraging 
pullets to lay early and freely may be all right when immediate profit 
is the only end in view, but such forcing, if successful, cheeks growth 
and the development of the vita] organs, and is mainly responsible for 
the undersized pullet's-egg. Some of the best and most profitable lay- 
ers that I have ever had did not lay early, but when they did begin they 
soon distanced their more precocious mates. If the precocious pul- 
let lays a short time and then stops, as she is very likely to do. she may 
catch ii]) with the procession, in time. 

When a pullet lays her first egg in the nest we give her a numbered 
leg-band and her number goes on the record sheet. After allowing her 
a reasonable time for practice, we will expect her to get right down to 
business. If our feed and care are such that well developed pullets are. 
laying from I."* to 25 or more eggs per month those pullets of the same 
breed and equal age that lay 12 eggs or less per month are marked for 
the block unless we can trace the trouble to some individual condition 
that is easily remedied. I emphasize easily because it is not often prac- 
ticable to go to a great deal of trouble in such cases. Where one has a 
spare pen it may be well to place such birds by themselves and give 
them different treatment for a while and watch results. I have tried 
this a number of times and the results never warranted the trouble ex- 
cept in the information gained. If we have no spare pen it would ob- 
viously be bad practice to change the ration of the good layers in the 
hope of improving the poor layers. This. I think, is often done 
unknowingly. 

I have never had any harm result from moving' the persistent layers 
about, after they were we'll started in laying-, when 1 wanted to bunch 
them together. 

The pullet that does not begin to lay when she can reasonably be ex- 
pected to, when the conditions and feed are right for her mates, she too 
is condemned. In this connection I will refer to a type of pullet that 
might appear to be a freak to some. She will, very naturally, puzzle 
those who find her for the first time. She is common enough I im- 
agine. Such a pullet may have been laying' and thus have gained a 
place on the record sheet or she may not have laid at all: yet we re- 
peatedly find her upon thi^ nest. As pullets generally visit the nest a 
few times before the first egg is laid this case does not at first occasion 
remark, but soon we find that she is peculiar. She is found on the 
nest day after day, some times several times a day. for a long period. 
A careful test shows that she j s not an ('ix'j: eater. The following- ac- 
count of s„ ( ;h pullets was printed in Tin; Poultry Keeper, Sept., 1902, 
and illustrates my point. 



50 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

FREAK HENS. 

The account of the "freak" turkey on page 150 of P. K. for August re- 
minded me of a number of hens that I have had that showed similar 
characteristics. Both in Barred Plymouth Rocks and White Wyandottes 
I have occasionally found pullets that regularly visited the nest, remain- 
ing quietly for a long time, but without result. I have often detected 
them in the apparent attempt to void an egg. 

In every case there was a previous history of laying. With one excep- 
tion these pullets had laid very few eggs at long intervals. This excep- 
tion laid well for a time. These birds were apparently in vigorous health, 
combs red, eyes bright, and their unproductive visits to the nest were 
frequent and regular for weeks and in a few cases for months. They 
were not egg eaters, as was shown by careful tests. 

■ I have changed the quarters of such birds, changed the ration and 
amount of exercise with no effect. Those that I have killed showed con- 
siderable internal fat (not distinguishable by outward examination) and 
the oviduct was atrophied or shrunken. There was no indication that 
they would ever lay again. The latest specimen would cackle when 
leaving the nest. Two specimens appeared to become broody while in 
this condition. 

The cause of the condition I do not pretend to know. I have called it 
fatty degeneration, but that is purely speculative. I do not attribute it 
to any serious defect in the ration, for these occasional freaks get the 
same ration that their more commonly prolific mates receive. I believe 
that the most profitable plan is to market such birds as soon as dis- 
covered. 

F. O. Welcome. 

These have the laying 1 instinct, they want to lay. and they try to lay. 
Sometimes these pullets are heavy, sometimes they are light. I know 
of no way to detect their infirmity except by their nest record. 

I believe that, as a rule, birds that do not lay profitably under con- 
ditions that are apparently suitable for their mates should be marketed 
as soon as they show their true colors. 

The tendency of a hen to become a chronic layer of weak-shelled eggs 
seems to increase with age as also does the tendency to overfatness. 

T think it well to get rid of such hens. They may lay freely. I 
have one such hen that is now on her fifth year of laying. She lays 
quite well although quite fat and is practically a non-sitter, (P. R.) 
yet she cannot produce a well-shelled egg. These weak eggs are very 
easily broken in the nest, and elsewhere, and the birds that lay them 
constantly thus become somewhat of a nuisance. 

Common causes for poor laying are bad feeding, lice and mites, ex- 
treme heat and cold, fright, disease, broodiness, molting, and natural 
incapacity. This last is often intimately associated with excessive 
broodiness. 



CULLING FOE PROFIT 51 

The incapable pullel or hen should be weeded out a> soon as discov- 
ered. Friends of the noble Asiatic-, or any breeds thai are famed for 
their sitting qualities, should not infer thai I am prejudiced against 
their favorite breed, as a breed.. Non-sitters are found in practically 
every breed, and there is no reason why excessive broodiness cannot 
practically be bred out of any strain. 

The novice should always move with caution, yet always remember- 
ing that life is short. 

Rules for culling, like rules for feeding, that would fully apply to all 
flocks are impossible to formulate. — except by inexperience. The has- 
ty writer can make an iron clad rule for most anything. 

Skill in culling can only be obtained by experience, close observation, 
and an understanding of the language of the record sheet. 

CULLING VO\l PROFIT. 



WRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR THIS BOOK BY MICHAEL K. BOYER. 

For years poultry writers have advised close culling. ••Cull closely" 
and "Cull again" have been their warnings. With the fancy this was a 
comparatively easy matter — the culling consisting of picking out birds 
defective in certain markings or ••points." The practiced eye was the 
guide. The advice, therefore, of the aforesaid writers was timely and 
of service, but of what benefit was it to the practical poultryman Avho 
made egg- production his business? lie might with the eye select the 
most desirable carcasses for reproducing table poultry, but he would 
certainly be at a loss to determine which were his best layers, so that 
he might breed from them and gradually exhibit a family of heavy egg 
producers. 

Not until the introduction of the trap nest was it possible for him to 
gain this much desired information. And it seems that not until the 
advent of the trap nest did our practical poultrymen understand the im- 
portance of knowing which were not only our best layers, but which 
were our drone- or "robber hens." How can we tell the idlers? We 
may notice that certain hens are laying, but how can we tell how many 
eggs they are giving us? Can we tell if they are paying their board? 
There is but one method — the trap nest. 

We. one season, picked out a pen of fifteen hens — such hens as we 
thought were doing good work. We installed trap nests in their house, 
and we kept a careful record. One hen laid something like 196 eggs 
during the year. Several gave us over 150 rgi>:>. and the rest, with the 
exception of five, laid between K'<> and L40 eggs each. '1 he five that 
were an exception laid less than KM) eggs each, one giving but 20 eggs 
the entire year, one -b~> eggs, two GO t'gg* each, and one 7l ; egg-. 

Now a- it costs not less than one dollar a year to keep a hen. it is 



52 THE. TRAP NEST TEXT HOOK 

plain to sec that any hen that lavs loss than 100 eggs a year does not 
pay her hoard. 

In the Hock referred to above there were five hens that not only did 
not pay their hoard, but they were in the way of those that were work- 
in's. It would have been more profitable to have killed them and sold 
their carcasses than to waste feed upon them. Here was where the trap 
nest proved to be of great value. We could not have secured a good 
laying strain from those drones, had we set their eggs. Instead we set 
the eggs laid by our best layers, and do so each year. 

Since we have installed trap nests we get more eggs from 150 hens 
than we got from 200 hens prior to their use. The trap nests taught us 
how to sort out the cream of our stock. 

It is very plain that if we, each year, breed from our best layers, mated 
to male birds hatched from eggs laid by heavy layers, we are building 
up a strain of great egg producers. Is it not so in breeding cattle and 
horses? Then why not in poultry? 

Another point of culling is according to color of egg. AV ith a few 
exceptions, the markets are calling for a brown egg. Such being the 
case, it is advisable to breed for them. Your flocks are laying a good 
brown, a light brown, a white egg. You can improve the color of the 
egg in future generations by hatching only the brown eggs, but you 
want to get rid of those hens that are laying white eggs. How can you 
do it? Only by using the trap nest. Will it not pay you to cull out all 
such? Better that your flock should be reduced fifty per cent, in order 
that you may get the desired color than to send a mixed lot of eggs to 
market that you will be cut on price on account of the assorted colors. 
Uniformity of color helps the sale of eggs in market. 

Another, a lien that lays a poorly shaped egg should be culled from 
the flock. Some hens, no matter how old, will lay a regular pullet 
sized egg, and we have had others that laid badly shaped ones. We 
even had one hen that laid the entire season a very thin shelled egg, yet 
she had plenty of lime in her food. Is it not best to cull out all such 
birds? With the use of the trap nest we can breed for good shape as 
well as good color of egg. 

Another useless hen, and one which should be gotten rid of, is a hen 
that will not produce fertile eggs. Careful students of the trap nest 
have learned that eggs from a certain hen are nearly always fertile, 
from another about fifty per cent, are fertile, and from others rarely an 
egg hatches. Will it pay to keep hens that cannot reproduce them- 
selves ? 

On a large egg farm only a few miles from here, trap nests are used 
to pick out the laying pullets at a certain age. All pullets that do not 
lay by the first of January are sold. Incubation on this farm starts 
March 15th, so that the first hatch conies off early in April and ends so 



CONTROLLING THE BROODING HABIT 53 

thai the last hatch docs nol run into June. Eggs arc always on sale at 
this plant. In a talk with the proprietor the other day. he said thai 
since he has given trap nests a thorough trial, he is able to do titty per 
cent, better. He says he need not keep as many hens to get the same 
amount of eggs, for the reason that he is rid of the drones and saves 
on the feed. 

The idea is to keep only profitable hens. Does the farmer keep the 
cow that can furnish little or no cream upon her milk? Then why 
should that same farmer harbor a lot of hens that are not worth the grain 
given them? Again the advice of the writers "cull closely — cull again," 
can l>c sounded, and I can assure all practical poultrymen that if they 
wish to establish profitable egg farms they should install trap nests and 
arrest the drones. 

In these days of high priced feed we must cut down as much of that 
expense as possible, and we can do it if we retain the workers and get 
rid of the loafers. Trap nests do not require the attention that some 
writer- would like to make ns believe. The careful poultryman makes 
a number of trips among his flocks, and in doing so it is but a few min- 
utes time spent to inspect the nests. A glance will tell if the hen has 
laid, and with well ventilated nests — as we know the Ideal trap nest to 
be — a hen does not suffer one bit. AVe would just as soon think of giving 
up our incubators, our brooders or our bone cutter, as to give up our 
trap nests, and so will every poultryman that has given them a proper 
trial. 



CHAPTER V 



CONTROLLING THE BROODING HABIT. 

Controlling the brooding habit. Breaking broody hens. Is broodiness 
opposed to profitable egg production ? Can a hen lay two eggs in one day ? 

JOSH BILLINGS said: --The time to set a hen is when the hen is 
ready." Unfortunately for Josh's philosophy, when we attempt 
it's practical application we often find that we have no use for the sitting 
hen when she is ready, and the hen is not always ready when we are. 

Broodiness is the survival of an ancestral trail that has only been 
retained because necessity demanded it. Since the advent of the incu- 
bator and brooder the sitting licit has been slowly passing. 

As the necessity for her passes away much of the unpractical sentiment 
commonly associated with her will disappear. As artificial-incubation 
and -brooding will never become universal, on account of economic 



54 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

conditions, the sitting hen will always be in some demand and her 
treatment will continue to be an important consideration. The natural 
sequence of the several stages of the reproductive instinct or passion may 
be described thus : First, the passing down of the eggs from the ovaries ; 
second, the mating; third, the production of a ''litter" of eggs by the 
female ; fourth, incubating the eggs ; fifth, brooding the chicks until they 
are able to care for themselves. In their wild state birds possess this 
instinct in its most complete development. Under domestication the 
reproductive trait has been modified and changed to meet our demands 
for a greater number of eggs than the natural exercise of the normal 
reproductive function would give us. 

The profitable domestic hen is, in a degree, an artificial product. The 
unprofitable domestic hen — and her name is legion — is either the result 
of degeneration, caused by unsuitable feeding and care and haphazard, 
breeding, or a reversion to ancestral types. 

ISTot only has selection and breeding from superior specimens (often 
without design) practically eliminated the incubating trait in many hens, 
but keeping them under conditions where they are frequently disturbed 
by their mates and the attendant, compelled to exercise, and their eggs 
not allowed to accumulate in the nests, tends to overcome the inclination 
to sit and keep them laying. 

The desire to accumulate a nestful of eggs is one of biddie's strongest 
ambitions. If the eggs are removed as fast as laid, the bird is deceived 
and continues to lay egg number one — as she figures it — for a period 
that may be long or short according to the individual tendency or capac- 
ity of the bird and the good judgment and skill of the feeder and 
caretaker. 

If the eggs are allowed to remain in the nest this desire to accumulate 
is soon gratified, and, other conditions being favorable, unless the incu- 
bating tendency is dormant, the bird will spend more and more time 
upon the nest until egg production ceases and broodiness is confirmed. 

If sitting hens are desired out of their natural season, the flock should 
be fed generously on corn and other heat-producing food to induce a 
feeling of general well-being and the layers allowed to remain on the 
nests, undisturbed, as long as they desire. If trap nests are used the 
hens should not be removed unless they want to get out. Their eggs 
can be marked with the birds' numbers, and the elate, and returned to 
them. On no account should the attempt be made to force them to sit. 
by artificial restraint, until broodiness is partially developed. If open 
nests are used, they should be well supplied with nest eggs covered with 
cloth to prevent chilling the birds. When a hen has voluntarily remained 
upon the nest over night she should be removed, preferably at night, to 
a place especially provided for the sitters, whether she has stopped 
laying or not. Here peace and quiet, plenty of whole corn, grit and 



BREAKING BROODY HENS 00 

water, and freedom from lice, will generally produce sufficient broodiness 
for all requirements. 

To prevent broodiness a course in some respects opposite to the other 
is indicated. The birds should be well fed and kept comfortable, but 
they must be compelled to exercise and their eggs should be collected as 
soon as convenient after they are laid. No nest eggs should be allowed 
in the pen. Keep the birds moving-. 

Even under these conditions hens with strong hereditary brooding- 
tendencies in their make-up are likely to become more or less broody 
occasionally. It then sometimes suits our purpose to "break them up." 

BREAKING BROODY HENS. 

The spirit in which untimely broodiness is commonly approached by 
the ignorant and thoughtless is thus humorously described in verse 
by Mr. Holman Day: 

"When a hen is bound to set, seems as though 'taint etiket 

Dowsin' her in water till she's connected with a chill. 

Seems as though 'twas scarcely right, Givin' her a dreadful fright, 

Tying' rags around her tail, poundin' on an old tin pail, 

Chasin' her around the yard. Seems as though it was kind of hard 

Bein' kicked and slammed and shoo'ed 'cause she wants to raise a brood; 

I sh'd say it's gettin' gay, just 'cause Natur wants its way. 

'While ago my neighbor, Penn, started bustin' up a hen; 

Went to yank her off the nest, hen, though, made a 'peck' and jest 

Grabbed his thumb-nail good and stout, ( like to yank the darn thing out.) 

Penn he twitched away and then tried again to grab that hen; 

But, by ginger, she had spunk, 'cause she took and snipped a chunk 

Big as a bean right out his palm, swallered it, and cool and calm 

Hi'sted up and yelled, "Cah-cah" — Sounded like she said "Hoo-rah!" 

Well, sir, when that hen did that, Penn he bowed, took off his hat — 

Spunk just suits him, you can bet. "Set," says he, "goll darn ye, set." 

Along with other senseless methods the irrational and cruel expedients 
for breaking broody hens are passing. Broodiness is a mental as well 
as a physical condition — rather more mental than physical. 

(I may be criticized for assuming that a hen has a mind, but I believe 
that we can understand and handle her better from such a standpoint 
even if it does require some imagination.) 

When the bird begins to remain for longer and longer periods upon 
the nest her physical condition will naturally begin to change. Less 
exercise being taken, more fai may be stored for use during her long- 
confinement. The fat does not cause the broody condition, but the 
broody condition tends to promote the formation of fat. It is 
often claimed that broody hens are generally fat hens, but nine-tenths of 
my most persistent sitters have been thinner than the proverbial rail. 



56 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

What fat they had was out of sight. On the other hand some of my 
non-sitters have been very fat. 

Plucking- feathers from the breast, (not always done.) long contin- 
ued contact with the nest, and the persistence of lice, may cause a 
superficial inflammation that is at once noticed when the hand touches the 
breast of the bird. This gives rise to the assumption that, a "broody 
fever" is present and that, in order to break her up, the bird must be 
"cooled off." 

While I cannot deny that some broody hens show an apparent fever, 
I am forced to admit that some broody hens do not. Natural skepticism 
may account for a trace of suspicion that the so-called broody fever is not 
wholly due to broodiness, but may be caused by external conditions that 
commonly surround a broody hen. Certain it is that procedures that 
would naturally increase a fever will cure broodiness. 

A physician's thermometer carefully placed under the wing, with the 
bulb touching the skin, will, when tried with a sufficient number of 
broodies and non-broodies, give the average temperature of each class. 
If the birds are tame enough so that they will not become excited when 
handled, their heart action can be compared. It would seem that these 
tests should reveal any fever that might be present. 

The simplest, easiest and most humane way to break a broody hen is to 
distract her attention from the nest. Induce what mind she has to con- 
sider other things; "to run in a different channel." 

The "breaking up coop" constructed of laths or slats and hung on the 
wall or suspended from the ceiling is all right if the confined birds have 
plenty of room, food and water, and are kept clean, cool and comforta- 
ble. But all too often they are sadly neglected in these coops and their 
future usefulness impaired. Their dearly-loved nests and other familiar 
objects may be in plain sight and cases have been known where birds 
so treated died, apparently from "a broken heart." 

The earlier the approach of the broody condition is noted the more 
easy it will be to prevent its culmination or shorten its duration. When 
trap nests are used, the first signs of threatened broodiness will be ob- 
served sometime before laying ceases. All that we can do then is to 
keep the bird moving and see that she is on the roost at night. This 
will completely abort the broody tendency with some hens and laying- 
will not be appreciably interrupted. 

My first move, when broodiness has stopped q^^' production, is to lock 
the bird out of her favorite nest — if she lias one. 

If her fruitless attempts to enter that nest do not discourage her, and 
she goes into another, I place her in another pen with strange mates 
and surroundings. Should this fail and I find her on a nest in that pen 
I place her outside of the house. She will not wander off or get into 



IS BROODINESS OPPOSED T< > PROFITABLE EGG PRODUCTION: 57 

mischief, l>ut will chiefly concern herself in attempts to get into the house 

or yard. , 

She can be fed and watered without trouble and two or three days 
will suffice to cause her to forgel her desire to sit and and laying is like- 
ly to l>e resinned in a short time. Another good way is to place the hen 
in ;i pen or yard with a lively male. 

All of this may seem like lots of trouble, lnit it is simple and easy in 
actual practice. 

The hen is easily identified by her leg-band number wherever she is 
found and the record sheet contains a note other condition. 

The number of times that a hen becomes broody in a year is not a 
safe criterion by which to judge of the extent of her broody tendencies. 
The effect of bloodiness upon her egg-record is the true test. One of 
the best layers that I ever had was broody and broken seven times in 
one year. She gave a good egg yield every month in the year in spite 
of her broodiness. Some hens evidently become disheartened and de- 
spondent under the influence of a hopeless desire to sit and refuse to lay 
for months, although they may not be broody enough to stick to a nest 
in the face of opposition. Such birds are unprofitable and should be 

weeded out, or allowed to hatch some eggs. * 

* 

IS BROODINESS OPPOSED TO PROFITABLE EGG 
PRODUCTION? 

If we eliminate from our minds all sentiment, current tradition, and 
the contrary opinions of poultry raisers whose observations of the 
habits of hens have been confined to a general consideration of flocks as 
they appear as a whole, or at best a few individual specimens at special 
times, if we can dispense with all this we will be likely to admit that 
broodiness is. to a greater or less extent, opposed to profitable egg pro- 
duction, and that all successful attempts to lessen its effects, or to 
breed it out. will improve the laying finalities of our strains. 

The more pronounced the brooding instinct becomes, in a normally 
developed hen, the smaller will be the v^<>; yield. Many hens are good 
sitters and ••mothers" and also good layers, but in such birds the 
brooding instinct is not fully developed. They occupy the middle po- 
sition between the ultra-natural hen. with her two or three "litters" a 
year, and the highest type of our artificial hen that makes egg produc- 
tion her principal occupation and has little time or desire to incubate. 
Those who regard the behavior of one hen that they own, or have owned, 
as being a fair sample by which to judge of hens in general, or some par- 
ticular breed in general, often hold a very different opinion from this. 
There are also others who desire us to believe that the hens that they 
are exploiting possess every attribute, in a superlative degree, that any 



58 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

one could desire. Thus we hear of the hen that hatches and rears three 
broods of chicks, rests two or three months during her molt and lays 
two or three hundred eggs in spare moments during one year besides 
winning first prize at the cattle show. If any of us are disposed to 
apply simple mathematics to such claims it is our own fault, not the 
claimants. 

I believe that the brooding instinct, as a pronounced trait,* can be 
bred out of any breed of fowl. The wild duck hatches and rears her 
young, but the domestic duck is rarely broody. 

One large breeder of ducks reports, in Farm-Garden and Poultry, 
that he averages about seven broody ducks per year in a flock of two 
thousand. It is noteworthy that the brooding tendency, as a family 
trait, diminishes and becomes dormant in the shortest time in breeds of 
active habit and highly nervous temperaments. What is true of families, 
seems also to be true of individuals within any families. Ducks, and 
hens of the Mediterranean breeds, are very restless and are easily dis- 
turbed with slight cause. Under domestication they are rarely permit- 
ted to enjoy that peace, quiet and freedom from distraction that, when 
long continued, tends to foster the brooding instinct. When such con- 
ditions are present, ducks or hens of any breed are likely to develop 
broodiness upon occasion . 

With breeds and individual birds of a decided phlegmatic temperament, 
easily tamed and naturally slothful when highly fed, the broody ten- 
dency will sometimes be found in its highest and most unprofitable devel- 
opment. Such individuals should be avoided when the breeding pens 
are made up. The pet hen, in spite of sentiment and the highly colored, 
guessed-at and imaginary egg yields so often attributed to her, is, no 
doubt, often an extremely poor layer. The persistent layer, while she 
is tamable to a sufficient extent, does not like to be petted too much. 
All hens will lay better when tame enough to bear necessary handling 
and endure the presence of the attendant without getting excited, but 
petting or coddling is not conducive to long continued, hence profitable, 
egg production; while it does tend to arouse the dormant brooding 
instinct that is present in all birds . 

I have found in several years experience with Plymouth Rocks and 
Wyandottes that my most determined broodies were often my poorest 
layers, and that my best layers were but slightly inclined to broodiness; 
many of them being practically non-sitters. Occasional apparent ex- 
ceptions have but proved the rule. 

Prof. Gowell of the Maine Ex. Station, where Plymouth Pocks and 
Wyandottes have been bred that laid from 200 to 252 eggs in one year, 
wrote, in reply to my query, that their best layers were not strong 
sitters and were easily broken. In the birds that I have handled there 
was no other evidence of an admixture of Mediterranean blood that would 



CAN A HEN LAV T\V<) EGGS IN ONE DAY? 59 

in any degree account for their non-sitting tendencies. My methods of 
feeding have had no effect upon the matter, except to hasten or re- 
tard broodiness, as far as I could determine. Persistent broodies have 
held to their ancestral instincts for two and three seasons under various 
conditions and changes in feeding and feeds. The non-sitters have re- 
mained non-sitters for three and even four years under the same 
conditions that surrounded their broody mates. 

I do not wish to be understood as condemning all hens that become 
broody. Many such hens are splendid layers; the laying* habit being 
stronger and more fully controlling- the organism of the birds than does 
the brooding* or incubating instinct. 

I recommend, merely, that the points that 1 have tried to make clear 
be kept in mind as having an important bearing, not only upon the egg- 
producing qualities of present birds, but also their offspring. 200-egg 
hens as individuals are very common. There can be no doubt of that. 

The 200-egg strain is not common ; I do not know that such a strain 
exists; but when such a strain is created the 300-egg hen will not be 
far off, and she will be a non-sitter. 

1. K. Felch is authority for the claim that a Light Brahma hen laid 
318 eggs in 333 days. Such a record on its face indicates an almost 
perfect bodily development, a persistent laying habit that effectually 
subdued all incubating tendencies, during that time at least. 

Those birds that lay in "litters" and are given to broodiness to such 
an extent that they do not lay profitably, from a market-egg stand- 
point, should not be used in the breeding pen. They should be mar- 
keted as soon as their unprofitableness has been determined: which with 
me has been in a short time. 

CAN A HEN LAY TWO EGGS IN ONE DAY? 

There yet remain, upon this mundane sphere, those who will deny 
that it is possible for a hen to manufacture and deposit in some suita- 
ble receptacle more than one ^gg in "one consecutive day." True there 
have been people who persisted in declaring that they owned but one 
hen. that their neighbors did not keep hens, and that their one hen. 
alone, and unaided by joking college boys or other facetious meddlers, 
had laid at leasi two t'gg^ in one day. 

There are several ways in which one could be mistaken in assuming 
that such a thing had taken place. Firstly: an vgg may become buried 
in the nest material and not be noticed when search is made for t'ggs. 
The hen may uncover it later, resulting in its discovery the next morn- 
ing, parading as a newly laid egg: possibly it might be warm. Later 
still, biddy may lay another rgg. Sure(?) proof that both were laid on 
the same day. Secondly: as such an unusual event is not anticipated 



60 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

one might forget to look for an egg - the night before and the next day 
forget that they forgot. If one uses trap nests it would seem that this 
sometimes-discussed matter might be settled. 

Let us look into it from that standpoint. With any or all trap nests 
but one hen is supposed to use the nest at any one time. "No admittance 
except on business and admit but one then 77 is the rule of the accurate 
trap nest. It cannot exclude the hen that enters on business but is un- 
able to transact it. Curiosity is. however, discouraged if the trap is a 
practical one. If we find at the close of the day's business that No. 19 , 
for instance, is credited on the record sheet with an egg twice, we may 
conclude that there can be no doubt that she laid both of them. 

This will depend upon several things. When- collecting- eggs from 
trap nests the attendant should keep his mind upon the work in hand. 
Should he be dreaming of ''The Law of Sex*' as outlined in All That 
There is to Know About Poultry Keeping he might absent-mindedly 
remove No. 19 from the nest and record her number before she had laid, 
and later in the day find her on the nest with her egg and record her 
number again. 

The same cause might result in forgetting to remove the egg the first 
time and No. 19 being a little inclined toward broodiness might be found 
on the nest, with the same egg, again with the same result upon the re- 
cord sheet. 

Non-belief in the ability of a hen to lay twice in one day, and a care- 
ful attention to business would prevent such an error. 

To illustrate, clearly enough to be understood, the ways in which 
inaccurate nests can deceive the record keeper it will be necessary to 
refer to experiences of my own with unreliable nests. 

I used at one time a nest that permitted two hens to occupy it at once 
and also permitted one hen to escape leaving the other one with two 
eggs in her possession, or the egg laid by the hen that escaped might be 
credited to the hen that remained. As she was removed and went back 
and laid later, she would get credit for both eggs — if the attendant 
happened to be a novice . 

Another type of nest, one that created somewhat of a sensation a few 
years ago, presented some still more perplexing problems to one who 
was not overly anxious to discover the 200-egg hen. This nest box, 
acording to the testimony of its inventor, permitted any number of 
hens to enter at once, yet we could determine, with accuracy, the origin 
of each egg found within. It worked with me as follows: Hen No. 1 
entered a nest and not being wholly pleased with it went through a rear 
door into another nest behind the first one. 

Hen No. 2 entered the nest just vacated by hen No. 1 and laid an egg. 
Hen No. 1 in the rear apartment, being in a partially-broody condition, 
was much interested in the performance of hen No. 2. Needing eggs 



(AN A HEN LAV TWO K<i<.S IN ONE DAY? 61 

in her business she reached into the nest occupied by hen No. 2 ( wJhich 
the construction of the nest permitted her i<> do) and "swiped" the egg 
of No. 2. carefully pushing il beneath her own body. Should the at- 
tendant appear at this time he would naturally remove hen No. 1 and 
credit her with the egg found beneath her. but actually laid by hen 
Xo. 2. 

No. 1. although partially broody, has not ceased layingso -he returns 
to the nest later and lays an egg of her own. This also being credited 
to her would give her two eggs for the day. Should she not lay she 
would have simply received credit for one egg, laid by another hen. 

Now I will venture to let the reader in on a point that he is very 
likely to discredit until he meets with it in his own experience, which 
he may never do. 

Probably every experienced poultry Observer knows the thieving 
propensities of broody hens. They will appropriate eggs to their own 
use. no matter where tkey rind them, if they can. by hook or crook, get 
them under their bodies. iSome broody hens, (not all) can persuade 
some hens (not all hens) to lay an egg where she (the broody hen) holds 
the fort. The language used is. to my ear. similar to that 
which she uses when calling- her chicks. -1 have known such a broody 
hen to induce such a laying hen to avoid her regular nest, day after day, 
to deposit her egg where she (the broody) could get it. I am not en- 
larging upon a single case that has come under my observation, but am 
describing what has taken place a number of times in my pens and has 
been carefully and personally observed. It is no dream. 

To return to the not that we were just considering we will take up 
the first instance that I ever knew of such an occurence. Such a broody 
hen as the one that I have described had been using this nest regularly. 
She appeared to lay two eggs a day so frequently that my suspicions 
were aroused to such an extent that I placed a china nest egg on the floor 
outside of the nest. Later I found the china e^ inside of the nest in 
possession of the broody hen (the reader will understand that with me a 
hen is broody when she is broody whether she has stopped laying or not.) 

I took out the ego and laid it on the floor again and waited until 1 
saw her reach out and pull it in. Later, by remaining at a point of 
vantage the greater part of the day. I observed the actions of her chum 
a- -h<' approached the nest. I heard the cluck of the broody and waited 
until the ^[X'j: was laid and pulled in. The layer did not try to enter the 
nest and she was a hen that had regularly used another nest. This 
same thing could happen with hens thai were accustomed to use that 
not and. finding the entrance barred, laid outside. So much for what 
I know about mistakes that i 
eggs in one day by one hen. 



62 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

We are also taught by these things to be cautious about forming- 
opinions from slight evidence. 

We are taught that it is well to have all the trap nests in the pen 
accurate nests. 

We are taught that when the nests are grouped together and all look 
alike the hens are not so likely to become so attached to one nest that 
they will lay outside of it if it is occupied. 

We are taught that the entrance to the nest should be so high above 
the floor that a hen inside cannot pull in an egg that might happen to 
be laid on the outside . 

We are taught that broody hens should be removed from the pen, or 
broken up. as soon as they cease laying. 

We are reminded that appearances are deceitful and that it is very 
easy to be mistaken . The importance of installing nests enough to take 
care of the daily egg yield with such a system of attention as we are 
able, or care to give them, is also shown. 



CHAPTER VI. 



FERTILITY. 

Fertility, Foundation principles underlying fertility. Conditions necessary 
for good fertility. Causes of infertility. A big hatch. How soon after mating 
will fertility become established, and how long will fertility continue after 
mating has ceased? The question answered. Causes of failure with incubators. 

THE all-important question of fertility, as it applies to the breeding 
of poultry, can best be studied from the available facts relating to 
the union of the sexes in the higher orders of animal life because those 
higher forms have been more closely studied by competent people, and 
a more serious and general interest has brought out the facts. 

Nature is very lavish in her provisions for the reproduction of any 
species. The female is supplied with a far greater number of eggs than 
will ever become fertilized and developed into counterparts of the 
parents. The male can and does supply a much greater number of fer- 
tilizing agents than can possibly be utilized by the female's eggs. 

A short period of service by a male bird might, if conditions within 
the female permitted, fertilize every egg that she could ever lay. Those 
favorable conditions do not, however, exist. To my mind the leading- 
causes for infertility in the poultry yard are excessive service, imperfect 
union, and no union at all. Lack of vigor having an effect only as be- 
ing contributory to these causes. 



Fertility 03 

Excessive service can be brought about by a lustful male being - too 
constantly in the company of a few females in a confined space, and by 
artificially exciting the sexual desires by stimulating foods and drugs. 
[mperfect union can result from sonic abnormal defect in the male or 
female, too profuse feathering of the posterior parts of either male or 
female, or both, or a lack of elective affinity (mutual attraction) between 
the male and female. Forced service is very apl to be futile or imper- 
fect. 

The absence of mutual attraction will accounl for those common cases 
where there is no service at all. 

In and of itself alone considered, prolific egg production can have no 
possible effect upon fertility. In many cases it can and does have a 
contributory effect . 

A- explained elsewhere in this book the natural mating time is at. 
and near, the beginning of a laying period by the female. This favora- 
ble time is apparently recognized by both the male and female, under 
normal conditions. 

It has been frequently observed, not only by myself but by others, 
that the female that has been laying freely for a long time may persist- 
ently avoid the attentions of the male: also that the male may not offer 
his services to such a female. Mutual attraction may, however, exist 
between the male and a female that has been laying freely for a long 
time, and may be absent between the male and a female that has just be- 
gun to lay. Egg production does not, necessarily, control elective 
affinity. 

What I have outlined is. I believe, sufficient to account for absolute 
infertility in by far the great majority of cases. 

AVeakly fertilized eggs, so-called, containing germs that fail to de- 
velop fully and normally during incubation, may be caused by imperfect 
mating or the germs may perish from lack of sustenance in the albumi- 
nous portion, or white of the v^^. 

Eggs that are insufficiently nourished may result from an insufficiency 
of suitable elements in the food served, or obtained by the bird, or by a 
failure on her part to properly convert those elements to the needs of 
the vt>:^>. This, as w ell as a lack of affection for the male, or imperfect 
union with the male, may accompany an overfat condition of the female 
and be caused by it. 

it will readily be seen from the above that the writer does not enter- 
tain for a moment some of the commonly accepted notions regarding a 
necessary connection between prolific laying and infertility. That the 
causes for infertility that I have outlined can be wholly avoided in 
actual practice is another question and I have grave doubts of its possi- 
bility. 

When we supply certain predetermined conditions for our fowls we 



64: THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

will, in the great majority of eases, also supply conditions that were not 
predetermined and that we fail to note, or attach much importance to if 
noted. Results, good or bad, that accompany conditions for which we 
intentionally arranged are naturally attributed to those conditions ; yet 
they often may be, at least in part if not wholly, due to the conditions 
that we have not noted. 

A great many poultry breeders do. at times, succeed in obtaining al- 
most perfect results in fertility. I have obtained as good results with 
one male running with fifty-five females as most of us can get with a 
small pen. I have heard of good results with still larger flocks contain- 
ing but one male and I have no reason to doubt them. 

In my own cases, and I suspect the same with the others, the eggs 
used for hatching were from females just beginning to lay and the male 
had been long in their company. This year I had, at one test, 100 per 
cent, fertility from a pen of 19 females (hens, two, three and four years 
old) that had been retained from year to year for their persistent laying 
qualities. Two of the older birds in this pen laid 177 eggs each last 
year. One of these two gave me an egg this spring not fit to use ; she 
was very fat. This was my best pen and was headed by one male. I 
got the largest hatches and the best chicks from this pen, which was one 
of three that were mated. The hens did not lay during the winter. It 
is believed by some that the safer way is to discourage egg production 
during the winter preceding the breeding season. There is sometimes 
danger, when doing this, of getting the birds overfat and thus defeating 
the very end sought — fertile eggs and strong germs. The concensus 
of opinion among experienced breeders is, that but few females should 
be mated to one male. There will, of course, be less females that will 
give infertile eggs in a small flock than in a large one, as a general 
proposition. The law of elective affinity not only influences fertility, 
but it also influences the resemblance of the offspring to the parents. 
This is another advantage of the small breeding pen. As far as the in- 
herent ability of the male to fertilize the eggs is concerned the size of 
the flock has no bearing. By keeping a record of the eggs that are used 
for hatching, the females that do not give well-fertilized eggs can be 
discovered and their eggs avoided. In practice it is best to keep close 
to the established usages of expert breeders until good reason appears 
for independent judgment. 

We should respect authority, but it is neither necessary or wise to 
venerate it. 

The use of several males with one flock works exceedingly well on 
many of our farms. Each male will have his own affinities. A case 
that illustrates this point attracted some local interest here this spring. 
An acquaintances of mine has a rough-and-ready farmer's flock contain- 
ing several males. 



HOW soon A.FTEK MATING WILL FERTILITY BECOME ESTABLISHED? 65 

This spring he bought a 220-egg incubator. At one hatch he took off 
192 chicks, and at the next l'.Hi chicks: the best hatches ever obtained 
in this vicinity. His wife operated the machine. 

The breeding season is probably the only time when so-called natural 
conditions will be found better than the best artificial conditions. Suf- 
ficient out-door freedom to range certainly awakens the mating instinct. 

HOW SOON AFTER MATING WILL FERTILITY 
BECOME ESTABLISHED, 

AND HOW LONG WILL FERTILITY CONTINUE AFTER 

MATING HAS CEASED ? 

THE QUESTION ANSWERED. 

In the spring of 1898 the writer purchased ten pullets from a fellow- 
townsman. These pullets had been maintained during the winter in a 
flock of some fifty or sixty females headed by one male in a house so 
loosely built, that the evening that I got the pullets 1 could see the moon- 
light through the sides of the pen. 

The pullets were placed in meal sacks and trundled up hill and down 
dale to my home, in a wheelbarrow that is nearly as old as the writer. 
These birds were placed by thenselves in a pen in my barn chamber en- 
tirely isolated from other fowls. The next day I received seven eggs 
from this Hock, the next day ten. They laid freely the entire spring. 
All of the eggs that they laid for two weeks were dated and placed un- 
der sitting hens. The fertility was very high for one week rapidly 
decreasing, after this time, until the tenth day which gave the last egg- 
in which a germ developed. All of .the eggs that were laid after the 
tenth day tested out clear. 

Experiments have shown that if a laying female voluntarily mates 
with a male shortly after laying, the next egg laid may be fertile; the 
second egg laid after mating is more likely to be fertile than the first. 

It is reasonably safe to use eggs for hatching one week after the male 
has been introduced to the Hock, other conditions being equally favor- 
able. The longer he is with the nock tin' better acquainted he will be- 
come with the different individuals in the flock. As the presence of the 
male has no effect upon the eggs laid by females with which he does not 
mate, some experiments that have been reported yield no satisfactory 
evidence; as it does not appear that it was known that the infertile eggs 
were from individuals that had mated with the male. 

Other things being equally favorable, females will lay more eggs 
without a male than with one. and the eggs will be of better quality 
and keep better, as an infertile egg will not rot. Without life there can 
be no death and there is no life in an unvitalized egg. 



66 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

CAUSES OF FAILURE WITH INCUBATORS. 

r think there can be but little doubt that, as a general proposition, 
the causes tor unsatisfactory results with incubators can be easily and 
briefly explained. The incubator is generally started at a time when 
sitting hens are not available and the conditions in the flock are un- 
favorable for good fertility. This will. I believe, account for any large 
percentage of absolutely infertile eggs in the machine. 

Poor results in the incubation of fertile eggs can be accounted for by 
the condition of the breeding' stock, the manner in which the eggs are 
handled before the)' are placed in the machine, and the failure of the 
operator to realize that the inventor and the manufacturer of the ma- 
chine and the expert operator know about 99 9-10 per cent, more about 
it than he possibly can. 

The sooner a fertile egg is incubated after it is laid the better will be 
the chances of getting- a lively chick from it. The capacity of the incu- 
bator is often too great for the capacity of the breeding- pen, or 
pens, to supply hatchable eggs: hence the egg's are held too 
long- before being- placed in the machine. In order to get the trays full 
anything- in the shape of an egg- is pressed into service. Brown eggs 
and white eggs, large eggs and small eggs are placed in the same ma- 
chine — something- that should never be done. 

That antiquated and frequently-resurrected yarn of the hen that steals 
her nest and brings off a chick for every egg has no virtue as an argu- 
ment against artificial incubation. That event usually occurs at a time 
when the condition of the bird, and the conditions that surround her, 
are the most favorable for reproduction. 

I had a hen that -'stole her nest" out in the orchard, laid a nestful of 
infertile eggs and sat on them for five weeks. The incubator is all right 
but it does not provide an automatic reasoning-apparatus with the auto- 
matic heat-regulator. 



m 



m 



k 



THE BROWN K<.<; 67 

CHAPTER Vll. 



THE BROWN EGG. 

The brown egg. Origin of the brown-egg fad. What the trap nest says. 
The size of the egg. The terms "litter" and "clutch" defined. 

EliHAFS I caii do no better than i<> begin this subjecl by repro- 
ducing mi article thai I contributed to the Eastern Poiiltrymaii 
liisl year. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE BROWN EGG FAD. 

(Written for the Eastern Poultryman.) 

While the white shelled egg is still preferred in some sections the brown 
shelled egg is ultra-fashionable in New England and throughout the 
greater part of the country. 

Perfectly fresh eggs, laid by healthy hens that are fed the same kinds 
of food will taste precisely the same be their shells white or brown. 

The brown shelled eggs are' laid by hens that secrete coloring matter or 
pigment in that portion of the oviduct where the shell is completed. 

Hens whose animal economy does not furnish this colored pigment lay 
white shelled eggs. 

Let us examine a chocolate colored shell laid by a Plymouth Rock of a 
"brown egg strain." We find that the color does not permeate the entile 
shell. The inner membrane that first encloses the egg before the shell 
is formed is white; the structure of the shell itself is white; the outer 
surface of the shell only is brown. It is merely a surface tint from the 
brush of tlie artist Nature serving to distinguish one family from another. 
Who can say that birds in their wild state are not guided and aided in 
the protection of their species by the color of their eggs 

It is said that the color of the flower serves to point out to the bees the 
place wlu re honey is to be found and the bee in turn carries the life- 
giving pollen to other flowers. 

The brown color of the egg shell being confined to the outer surface 
cannot effect the flavor of the egg; but there can be no doubt that many 
people have had, and do have the idea that brown shelled eggs are better 
than white shelled eggs. There is a reason for everything and there must 
be a reason for this. Brown shelled eggs formerly denoted that the hens 
that produced them were Asiatics or had Asiatic blood. The Asiatic 
breads lay large eggs. Is it not true that years ago when the "brown egg 
fad" began to be noticed that the brown shelled eggs in our city markets 
were generally larger than those having white shells? If so, the people 
would naturally prefer them. 

But there was another condition twenty-five or thirty years ago that it 
seems reasonable to suppose might have had a tendency to bring the 
white egg into discredit and thus boom the brown egg. That was the 



68 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

practice of pickling and lining eggs to preserve them; a practice that is 
still followed but not so extensively since the advent of cold storage. A 
pickled or a limed egg is not a very delectable article of diet as every good 
housewife knows. The brown shelled blood (Asiatic) was not so common 
on our farms then as now. The greater part of the eggs picked up by the 
country collectors for preserving were white shelled, hence the ill-tasting 
preserved egg was more commonly white than brown. 

The writer remembers an egg merchant who did a considerable business 
"preserving" eggs for the Boston market, and it w r as said that he experi- 
mented not a little to find a way to color the pickled eggs a brown that 
would have a natural appearance, but without success. 

Is it not reasonable then to infer that the "brown egg fad" had a logical 
basis? 

Brown eggs were generally good eggs, white eggs were frequently of 
inferior flavor as preserved eggs always have been and probably always 
will be. 

Public opinion is not easily changed. A market that once demanded a 
brown egg for good reasons would continue to demand it after those 
reasons had disappeared unless some condition should arise to warrant a 
change. 

So while we know 7 that there is no difference in the eating qualities of 
white and brown shelled eggs, and that as far as beauty goes the color or 
absence of color on the shell is a matter of individual opinion, we must 
give the market what it most desires, be it brown shelled or white shelled 
eggs. 

WHAT THE TRAP NEST SAYS. 

Trap-nest records have shown us that the ability of a hen to assimilate 
a generous ration and convert it to her own maintenance and a regular 
and abundant supply of eggs at the same time, does not. as a rule, in- 
clude the ability to secrete color pigment in sufficient quantity to color 
the eggs equally as fast as produced. 

It has been my practice to make note of the color of each lien's egg 
from time to time, generally about once a month, by marking opposite 
the bird's number on the tally sheet a single letter to denote the shade 
of color. Thus for a dark brown or chocolate, I use the letter I), a good 
brown is marked B. well tinted T. lightly tinted L, white W. To one 
who is studying the subject the information obtained in this way is well 
worth the trouble. 

By this method I have found that with the most regular and persistent 
layers there is a marked and often a rapid decrease in the color of the 
egg as laying progresses. A pullet that laid a dark brown egg when 
beginning in the fall or winter would be laying a tinted egg in the 
spring. On the record sheet would be found color marks ranging from 
D to T, B to L, or L to W against the same bird's numbers. This has 
not been a peculiarity of an occasional individual but has been a general 



WHAT THE TRAP M> T >AV- li!l 

characteristic of the steadiest layers in my flocks for the several years 
that L have been observing the matter. 

While the general tendency is for the eggs to grow lighter as frequent 
and regular laying progresses, still there are marked and peculiar va- 
riations in the color, as well as the size and shape of the same lien's egg 
from time to time. This shows how unreliable was the old method of try- 
ing to distinguish each lien's egg by its appearance. It is true that some 
hens will produce eggs that are almost exactly alike from day to day. 
such changes as take place being so gradual as to be unnoticed unless a 
record is made of them and comparisons made that cover a long period. 
But others will lay eggs of different sizes, shapes, and styles of 
color without rule or apparent reason. Thus we will find a bird thai 
gives us a dark brown egg, then a spotted ego-, then an ego- quite light 
in color soon followed by an egg G f the original dark brown. 

Some moderate and some very poor layers will give a tine brown egg- 
all of the time. The most beautiful brown egg that we get is from a 
very moderate layer. It varies but little in color, size or shape through- 
out the year. The exceptional lien lias given a large number of well 
colored eggs. 

A professor in an Agricultural College wrote me that he thought 
that their heavy layers held up the color of their egg- as well as the 
rest. Had he known that they did it would have been more convincing. 
Quite numerous reports from trap-nest users confirm my own obser- 
vations as noted above. 

What effect confinement and ration have on this matter 1 do not 
know, but I have long suspected that it had some bearing. I believe 
that the time will come when it will be possible to introduce elements 
into the food or drink of fowls that they can convert into color pigment 
for the surface of the shell. That the color of the shell is influenced by 
conditions that have no apparent connection with the number of c^^ 
previously produced or being produced I know. 

Birds of mine have deepened the color of the shell after being given 
more freedom of range in grassed yards. The same has been true when 
carbonate of iron was being added to the mash to assist the molting 
process. 

That the range, or the grass, or the carbonate of iron had the slight- 
est influence on the matter I do not know. 

The several conditions were coincident with some individual birds, 
but not with all or even the majority of them. The only food that 1 
have ever found that had any influence in determining the quality of 
the shell formation without the shadow of a doubt, was bone. Green- 
cut bone and granulated bone will improve the quality of ego- shells in 
a bird in normal condition. 

I have read in some scientific work that animal color pigment was 



7 (J THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

largely fat. That is all the pointer that I am able to give and that may 
be of no value. Careful chemical research may disclose the secret, or it 
may be landed by a chance shot from some unskilled source as so many 
of our most valuable discoveries have been. Certain it is that to color 
the shell brown would not necessarily imply that brown must be the 
color of our color-produrer. 

The bird's chemical laboratory is a place where many mysterious 
compounds are made and no one has yet thoroughly explored it: 
although some appear to think that they have. 

SIZE OF THE EGG. 

As a general proposition the size of the bird determines the size of the 
egg. Specific examination will show, however, that there are a number 
of factors that influence the size of a bird's egg. 

The pullet that does not begin laying until eight or ten months old. 
will, other things being favorable, lay a larger egg than she would have 
laid had she begun at four, five or six months of age. This, I believe, 
is not wholly due to the greater development of the reproductive organs. 
The egg grows in the body of the bird and its growth is dependent 
upon the supply of elements that are diverted to that use by the bird. 
These elements are all primarily the same as those that are used in 
building the bird's own body. When our immature (in growth) pullet 
begins to lay she begins to use material for egg production that she 
needs for her own development and she continues to appropriate to 
her own use some of the material needed by the eggs. The result is an 
insufficiently nourished body and an insufficiently nourished egg. The 
growth of the bird is somewhat checked by laying and the growth of 
the egg is influenced by the growth of the bird. The immature size of 
the oviduct, it seems reasonable to suppose, also has its effect. The 
broody hen, as soon as she begins to store up material for use during 
her pre-supposed confinement also begins to reduce the size of her egg. 
As long as the incubating desire is present she will lay a smaller egg 
until laying ceases or the incubating desire is removed. 

Mal-assimilation of food also seems to have a remarkable effect upon 
the size, shape and quality of hens' eggs at any part of a laying period. 
Thus we find individuals that will produce eggs that arc abnormally- 
large or -small, or insufficiently or excessively provided with shell, or 
not shelled at all. with no apparent relation to the number of eggs pre- 
viously or subsequently laid or. indeed, the quantity or quality of the 
supplied ration. Overfeeding, or feeding that is not properly balanced is 
no doubt responsible in many cases, bul overfeeding', underfeeding and 
unbalanced feeding can take place in the bird's body as well as in the feed 
trough. Students of incubation mav or mav not find here a hint as to one 



EXPLANATION OF III I . TERMS "LITTER AND "CLUTCH t I 

possible answer to the much mooted question : •• Why do chicks die in the 
shell?" 

It is the writer's present belief that those who would secure long and 
profitable life in the poultry yard should consider the above propositions 
carefully. 

EXPLANATION OF THE TERMS "LITTER" AND 

"CLUTCH." 

A " litter of eggs" is a number thai a hen, reverting to the incubating 
instincts of wild birds, will lay for the sole purpose of reproduction. 
A normal litter will be no greater number than the hen is able to cover 
with her body. 

"A clutch of coos" j s ; , term that has evidently been adopted in the 
effort to account for a hen ceasing to lay after she has produced more 
eggs than the word "litter" would explain, and for the reduced size of 
some hen's coos at certain times when the incubating tendency may 
wholly or only partially develop. It has no definite number. 

The number of eggs in a "litter" or ••clutch" is not predetermined in 
the physical structure of the bird, as so many assume, but depends upon 
her disposition or temperament, the food that she receives, and the con- 
ditions to which she is exposed. 

A perfectly developed hen. with a bred-in-the-bone ambition for egg 
production could, if perfectly maintained, produce at least one egg for 
every day of her vigorous adult life, perhaps more. If not then why not ? 
Perfection can never be attained, either in structure or maintenance, 
hut it is as worthv a goal for utility as for art. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



IS IT NECESSARY OR ADVISABLE TO FORCE EGG 
PRODUCTION ? 

Is it necessary or advisable to force egg production? Egg production during 
molt. The rooster and the trap nest. Egg-eating hens. 

THE point of view of a reader is not always anticipated by a 
writer. It is quite commonly understood. 1 believe, that no 
hen will lay. except during the natural breeding season, unless 
forced to do so. If we concede the truth of such a proposition 
we must concede that any hen thai lays a larger number of eggs 
in succession than she would be able to cover with her body, and 
hatch, (if fertile) has been forced to do s,, by some means aside 



72 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

from her own inclination; for the "litter of egos" is nature's num- 
ber, and, as far as we have yet been able to determine, is designed 
by nature to be incubated by the bird that produced them. 

What constitutes forced egg production? What is commonly under- 
stood by the term: "forcing for eggs?'' There may be a difference in 
the minds of different people as to what forces really operate to produce 
a large yield of eggs. There may be a great difference in the forces 
themselves, as brought to bear by different people, in different places 
and with different hens, that will and do promote great egg production . 

The writer endeavors to feed his hens well because they lay well and not* 
with the idea of making them lay well. Is he wrong or right? The 
hen that is not provided with suitable food to repair those tissues of her 
body that have been used in the feeding for growth of the eggs within 
her is not properly supported in her efforts to add to our revenues. 

Are we forcing anything when we supply the right elements to repair 
used up tissues and energy? 

Drugs and condiments may stimulate the reproductive organs and 
cause the eggs to be passed down from the ovaries abnormally fast, but 
they will not feed the eggs. The growth of the egg begins in the bird's 
body and ends with the completion of the egg, if it be not incubated, 
or the death of the germ or the resultant body if it is incubated. 

We are not forcing nature when we feed the egg within the parent 
body, any more than we are when we feed the chick after it is hatched 
and it has digested all that was left of the egg but the shell. 

Inherited and acquired tendencies will cause the eggs to become de- 
tached from the ovaries very rapidly with some birds. A pullet owned 
by the writer laid her first 20 eggs in 21 clays and she had not been 
forced for eggs or forced for growth but had roamed over free range at 
will. 

The more rapidly these eggs come down the more pressing will be the 
demands made upon the bird's body for suitable food elements to feed 
them and perfect their growth. Supplying the bird with suitable food 
elements to balance this drain is not forcing egg production. Should 
these elements be provided in excess of the egg supply, or be converted 
to other uses in the economy of the body unfavorable changes may take 
place in the physical condition of the bird ;. but if the reproductive, the 
digestive and the assimilative functions of the bird are working in 
full harmony we are feeding the bird and her eggs: Ave are forcing 
neither. 

The harmful effects of a failure to understand this principle or a neglect 
or inability to work it out correctly are well shown in the following 
clipping from The Dixie Fancier. 



FORCING HENS FOR EGG PRODUCTION 7;i 

FORCING HENS FOR EGG PRODUCTION, 

Nothing we have read more nearly coincides with our own views and 
experience in forcing hens for great egg production than does the follow- 
ing clipped from Commercial Poultry and written by Mr. W. B. German. 
Read and study it, brother poultry men. 

It has got to be quite a fad now to advertise eggs or stock that comes 
from hens with a big egg record. Such advertisements are all right and 
not misleading when such record is produced through natural means — 
that is, not forced on highlj^ stimulating feed beyond the natural capacity 
of the hens for egg production, which means a deterioration of, not only 
health and strength of the hen in question, but also of all subsequent 
stock emanating from that source. I will admit that it is possible by 
proper selection and mating to produce a strain of hens that will be great 
layers and while this fact should be worked upon by all breeders yet great 
care must be exercised or harm will be done by exhausting the vitality of 
the hen and that of her offspring. To show how it will effect youngstock 
where the parent stock is overworked I only need say that chicks 
hatched from eggs laid by hens that have been forced to lay in season and 
out, will be puny and weak and half of them will not live, and those that 
do will not reach that state of perfection that would warrant using them 
as breeders. We can see the magnitude of this mistake when we know 
that this lost vitality, or weakness, is handed down from one brood to an- 
other for several seasons. Indeed I doubt if it is ever wholly overcome, 
so long as a trace of the former blood remains. While it is possible to 
force a flock to great egg production at the present, yet if they are used 
as breeders while under this strain or even afterwards, the work of breed- 
ing up the flock will be lost and we will be heavy losers through lack 
of health and vigor in our future flocks. There is a limit to all 
things to go beyond which brings a reaction which is disastrous, 
and I would not think of getting eggs for setting from any breeder if I 
knew his hens had been fed for eggs through the winter, because eggs 
were bringing a good price. It is contrary to nature for a hen to lay ex- 
cept at certain seasons of the year, and while nature ma}- be assisted and 
improved upon and great changes brought about through this assistance, 
yet there is a limit past which it is dangerous to go, without endangering 
our future success. Hens used for layers may safely be forced for a large 
egg production in a short period, but those used for breeders dare not be 
without a corresponding loss of vitality, reaching into future broods, 
thereby lowering chances for success. 

EGG PRODUCTION DURING MOLT- 

A portion of this article appeared in the Poultry Standard for Oct. 
L902, contributed by the author of this book. The rest is protected by 
copyright. F. O. W. 

The molting process is one that should receive more attention from 
poultry raisers than is usual. This is a critical period with all birds and 



74 THE THAI' NEST TEXT BOOK 

unless their environment is sufficiently favorable they are likely to perish 
from exposure to the elements or become so weakened that they fall an 
easy prey to their natural enemies. 

We are accustomed to imagine that nature is always kind to her 
own and that wild beasts and birds always thrive and. as a rule, die 
only from old age unless destroyed by the hunter. The naturalist 
knows well that such is not the case. The mortality among wild birds 
and animals is very large. One naturalist went so far as to claim that 
a natural death is unknown among them. 

We can affirm, with no fear of competent contradiction, that the more 
carefully we imitate the normal conditions of nature the less valuable, 
to us, will become the lives of the domestic birds or beasts so surround- 
ed. The almost universal worship of some medium of exchange (the 
almighty dollar with us) has produced an all-too-prevalent belief that 
whatever appears to be cheap i> right and we distort both truth and 
reason in the attempt to convert Nature to our way of thinking. 

Let us admit, then, that under domestication the hen has a far better 
chance to live in good health and contentment than her wild antecedents 
could have had. instead of taking it for granted that the molting hen 
must be a sick hen rather let us take the position that, with the care 
and food that Ave are abundantly able to provide, there is no need for 
sickness or debility during the molting period of birds that have inher- 
ited a vigorous constitution. 

Hen feathers somewhat resemble certain plants inasmuch as they sprout 
and o-row, are alive, for a season, then wither, die and fall, and are re- 
placed by another crop. 

Feathers grow very rapidly, fed by nutrient vessels, and make great 
demand upon the source of nutrition for sustenance. Corn will not 
make feathers. As well try to make nails from soap as to expect feath- 
ers from corn. As the bird needs energy, and fat is necessary for 
nervous force, corn, or its equivalent, should form a part of the ration. 

Much of the trouble that often accompanies molting is no doubt due 
to general neglect — a combination of unfavorable conditions — during' 
that period. 

Carelessly fed: indifferently housed; tormented by vermin: breathing- 
hot impure air by night and chilled by cold winds, or fall rains, by day : 
fed anything or everything except what she mosl needs, it is no wonder 
that general neglect has produced a general condition of despondency, 
sickness and unproductiveness among m siting fowls. How easy it is to 
acquit ourselves from blame and charge up the whole business to Nature. 

The molting hen requires good cart* and suitable food. She needs 
food rich in feather-forming elements, .Meat, bone, clover, bran, oats, 
oyster shell and mineral grit. Linseed meal (o. p.) is a good addition 
to the mash. Green food in the shape of vegetable tops, vegetables or 



EGG PRODUCTION DURING MOLT 



apples are great aids to the digestion and proper assimilation of the other 
foods. 

The birds should not be compelled to expend too much energy in ex- 
ercise al this time. Thai molting hens are often fed the wrong kinds of 
food is shown by the overfal condition that so often accompanies and 
follows the molt. 

The different behavior of individual liens fed the same ration and kepi 
in the same flock seems to show thai molting, as well as egg production 
and oilier functions, is largely influenced by individual tendencies. 
Some individuals drop their feathers so rapidly that they become almosl 
naked in a short time while others molt ><> gradually thai only close in- 
spection, or the brighter appearance of the new feathers, -how- thai 
molting is in progress. Willi one bird egg production ceases at, or near. 
the beginning of molt and is uol resumed until the new feathers are 
fully grown; while others keep fully clothed and lay freely during the 
entire period. I have noted these differences in one flock of the same 
breed, same age and. of course, receiving the same ration. 

As an example of steady laying throughout the entire year 1 will lake 
a Wyandot le hen of my own. I will give her egg-record by months to 
show how little effecl certain conditions appeared to have upon subse- 
quent laying. During the year 1901 this bird laid as follows: January. 
in eggs; February, ( .» eggs; (broody and broken up.) March, 20 eggs; 
April, 16 eggs; May, 11 eggs; (broody and broken.) June. L8 eggs; 
(broody and broken.) July, 12 eggs; (broody and broken.) Aug. 1:'. 
eggs; (broody and broken.) Sept. Ki eggs; (broody and broken, molt- 
ing.) Oct. 11 eggs; (broody and broken, molting.) Nov. 19 eggs; Dec. 
19 eggs. Summary: Total No. eggs laid, 183. Broody and broken 7 
times. Molting observed only two months. This is an exceptional hen. 
but the data given above 1 personally know to be correct. Tbis record 
was made under conditions that must have been very unfavorable at times 
and that i> what emphasizes a performance that would be in no degree 
remarkable. I believe, under the best of conditions. On the coldest 
winter days warm water placed in the pail in the morning froze before 
noon. The droppings froze on the platforms. But little vegetable food 
was supplied a- we did not have it. At this writing that hen is on her 
24th consecutive month of laying. Pretty close to a continuous per- 
formance for a bird that became broody seven limes in one year. 

I have had many hen- lay during the greater part of their molt, and quite 
anumber that laid well entirely through it with no loss of vigor that I 
could determine. I never try to force laying at this time but endeavor 
to feed suitable food to assisl the growth of feathers and maintain the 
bird in good health and flesli without fattening. 

Kven when not so carefully fed I have found thai individuals of a 
persistenl laying habit are likely to lay well into, or entirely through 



76 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

the period. If sufficient and suitable food is given I see no reason why 
harm should result. Such laying may effect fertility. With the single 
exception that mutual attraction between male and female appears in 
some cases to be weaker after laying has been in progress a. long time I 
can as yet find no reason why any well-nourished egg should not be- 
come fertilized no matter to what part of a laying period it belongs. 

If the egg has not been starved I see no reason why the fertilized 
germ should not thrive. 

THE ROOSTER AND THE TRAP NEST* 

A man, at one time a servant of the state of Rhode Island at their 
Agricultural College, found his rooster in a trap nest and said that there 
was no apparent reason why he went there. Neither could he under- 
stand how any trap nest could prevent egg-eating.. 

As some other trap-nest novice may be more interested in the relation 
of cause to effect I will explain the rooster matter here and the egg-eat- 
ing question elsewhere. 

Male birds that go on the nest are known to observing poultry breeders 
as ''coaxers." Some male birds seem to possess an intuitive knowledge 
of the most favorable time for the female to male with a view to 
reproduction. So we often find them paying almost exclusive attention 
to those of their mates that are about to begin a period Of laying, or 
have been laying but a short time. They carefully protect them from 
annoyance, see that they get choice bits of food and frequently coax 
them to enter a nest by entering themselves and then calling their mates. 
An observing care-taker will perhaps rind, as I have, that when the male 
bird is found in an Ideal nest, a favorite that has not been laying for 
some time, or but recently began will be in evidence. The record sheet 
and an observing eye will tell the story. Her eggs will almost surely 
be strongly fertilized. It would seem to be of good omen when the 
male is found on the nest. If there is any valid objection to this behav- 
ior it can be laid to the bird and not to the nest. 

The facts connected with this matter no doubt have an important 
bearing on fertility, especially when one male heads a large flock of 
females. The larger the flock the more hens there are likely to be that 
are not in a receptive condition, hence do not mate willingly, or at all. 

The natural mating time is at the beginning of a laving period and it 
is certainly recognized as such by souk 1 males and females. When the 
egg« from hens in the midst, or near the end of a long period of laying- 
are well fertilized it simply shows that other conditions have overcome, 
or lessened the force of natural tendencies. That this is a desirable end 
to be sought and attained is believed by many. It is simply a problem 
to solve and some appear to be solving it. 



K<.<; EATING HENS it 

EGG EATING HENS. 

An egg- eater is a bird thai has contracted the liabit of breaking the 
sound shell of an egg with her beak and eating the contents. If not 
cloyed with shell she will eal the shell also unless some oilier hen gets 
ahead other. It requires very close observation, sometimes, to detecl 
an egg eater. The fact that we find a nest moist with egg, or see a 
bird with feet or beak smeared with egg doe- not prove that the egg- 
eating habit is present. Any fowl will eal a broken egg, and thin- 
shelled eggs are very easily broken in any nest or elsewhere. In open 
nests that contain nest-eggs, or eggs previously laid by other hens, a 
thin-shelled eo"' is very likely to be broken at the moment it drops from 
the bird. This egg will be eaten by the first bird that smells it: prob- 
ably the one that laid it. The finding of the nest, the eggs, or the beak 
of the bird smeared with egg might give rise to the assumption that the 
vice of egg eating had developed in the flock. A sound egg left in 
some convenient place ought to show if there are any egg eaters present. 
Broken eggs may induce the habit of egg eating. The absence of 
oyster shell or other supposed egg-shell-makers may induce it. 1 have 
noticed that when the shell-box had been empty for some time the birds 
would make frantic efforts to break a sound egg placed before them— 
without success however. 

I have tried a number of times to teach my hens the art of breaking 
and eating eggs in order to study the matter more closely, but without 
>ucces>. A broken egg thrown upon the ground would be devoured 
in an instant but a sound egg could be left around in safety. 

A number of years ago 1 had several hens that formed the genuine 
egg eating habit in trap-nests of two compartments. First they would 
pull the egg out of the not and it would break or crack when it fell. 
After a while they learned the trick of breaking the eg^s with their 
beaks. I found that, in order to puncture the shell with the beak, the 
bird was obliged to get the egg at such a point of vantage that a sharp 
blow could be struck while the egg was so situated that it could not 
roll away. By having the birds lay in Ideal nests a foot square I found 
that the egg Was a' all time- in such close proximity to the bird's body 
that -he was unable to deliver a direct blow that would puncture the 
shell. A hen cannot break a strong shell that is under her body by 
striking it with her beak. None of these birds were able to eat their eggs 
in a trap nest one foot square. They were able, and did eat them in 
the two compartment nest until I cut off the point of the upper mandi- 
ble. Then they were cured entirely. By the time the beak grew out 
again the trick was forgotten. This operation has been frequently re- 
commended and I believe it will work in every case, unless the beak is 
cut on the wrong bird: which i< no doubt frequently done. 



78 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

The fact that do traces of ego- or shell are ever found in the nests does 
not by any means prove that no eggs are broken and eaten . Some egg- 
eaters will not only eat every particle of the egg and shell but also all 
nest material that is wet with the egg. 

Non-laying hens and male birds are as likely to contract this habit as 
are the layers. Ideal trap nests keep the eggs out of their reach. 

Open nests that are so constructed or so situated that the nest is semi- 
dark will prevent the birds from seeing the egg> plainly enough to eat 
them. If the nests are too dark the birds are likely to lay elsewhere. 

When egg eating is suspected, eggs should be placed where the hens 
can see them, and results noted. 



CHAPTER IX. 



NATURE'S SECRET REVEALED TO THE BREEDER. 

THE FOUNDATION PRINCIPLE OF THE 

LAW OF LIKE BEGETTING LIKE, 

THE BREEDER'S LAW. 

Nature's secret revealed to the breeder. The foundation principle of the law 
that "like begets like/' The breeder's law. Single vs. multiple mating. The 
fallacy of the so-called "law of sex." The fallacy of the egg-type theory. In- 
dividual merit from the standpoint of the buyer. A prophecy. 

THE key that unlocks the door of success is persistence. Genuine 
persistence is not acquired but inherited. We may subdue, in a 
greater or less degree, those qualities that antagonize persistence and 
we may remove obstacles from the path of persistence, thus giving it a 
better chance, but we cannot create it either in ourselves or in living 
organisms that we are seeking to control. All success in the improve- 
ment of vegetable or animal species is obtained by discovering individ- 
uals in which the desired features are persistently present and are 
persistently transmitted when we propagate the species. From this we 
deduct the law: Those traits on qualities that develop in a 

SUPERIOR DEGREE UNDEK SEEMINGLY UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS ARK 
THE ONES MOST LIKELY To ATTALN EQUAL OK GREATER DEVELOPMENT 
IN THE PROGENY. 

The observing poultry breeder who keeps track of the offspring from 
each individual pair cannot fail to be impressed with the truth of the 
above proposition. 



NATURES SECRET REVEALED TO THE BREEDER ti) 

A bird may have a serious defect in comb or plumage and yet that 
detect may never appear in the next or in any future generation. In 
such a case thai defect is tiol persistent. If ii does appear in every sub- 
sequent generation it is persistent. 

The sani!' i- true -of all qualities good or bad, desired or undesired. 
The creation of improved strains til fancy fowl Lias resulted from the 
working of this law of persistence. Whatever the distinguishing qual- 
ity or qualities may be thai distinguish one breeder s straiu from another's, 
peculiar coloring or marking of feathers, style of comb, shape or carriage, 
or habits and traits, they arc known by their persistent presence in the 
individuals and in their progeny. Unless such distinguishing- features 
are thus persistently present there is no -train. 

In 1898 the writer raised a lot of Plymouth Ltock pullet.-. Those thai 
developed a persistent laying habit under very unfavorable conditions 
were marked. From year to year the most persistent layers from that 
lot were retained. I have some of them now. One of those birds laid 
177 brown eggs in 1901. This hen has a very imperfect comb. This 
year she was mated, to a finely marked cockerel that had a very ordi- 
nary comb. From those two birds I have cockerels with good five-point 
combs. 1 never found the imperfect comb of this female reproduced in 
any of my chicks, any year. It is not persistent. That hen has never 
been broody but once and then only in a slight degree. Her shape does 
not resemble a Leghorn, by the way. 

The persistent laying habil is easily recognized by the trap nest user. 
One writer who had evidently u>vi\ trap nest-, for he recommended 
them highly, said that if we keep individual records at all we must keep 
them throughout the year in order to determine which were the good 
layer.-. This writer may have had persistent layers, but he himself lacked 
persistence for he was grievously in error in making such a statement. 
The persistent laying habit does not require a year for its discovery. 
The female that produces coos freely under unfavorable conditions at 
any time shows a persistent laying tendency. 

There may he other persistent tendencies that will eventually dominate 
the egg producing tendency and they may be observable without the 
aid of trap nests, or they may not. LJroodiuess is one of these: inherent 
constitutional weakness another. The female that lays steadily and 
freely throughout the natural breeding season under conditions that are 
favorable to the development of the incubating instinct discloses a per- 
sistent laying tendency licit dominates broodiness. The bird that goes 
through its molt in fine condition keeping fully clothed and in good 
health and vigor all of the lime while it- mates, or other birds subject 
to the same condition-, are ragged and despondent shows a persistent 
tendency for normal i eather-reproduction . [f such a bird lays during 
this period she shows the persistent laying tendency also. 



80 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

The bird that is raised on free range and comes to winter quarters in 
an overfat condition while its mates are in proper condition reveals a 
persistent tendency to fat production . 

The female in the laying pen that converts her food to fat while her 
mates are converting theirs to flesh or eggs reveals the persistent ten- 
dency to mal-assimilation of food. 

The breeder who early recognizes the truth and the dominating force 
of the law of persistence and maintains those persistent qualities that 
are desirable and discards those persistent qualities that are not desir- 
able will if he himself is persistent meet with success whatever be his 
aim. 

The propagation of species is governed and influenced by a multitude 
of factors some of which are clearly understood, some partially under- 
stood and others not understood. 

People of mature years know how often children "take back v to their 
grandparents; not only in appearance but in mental and physical traits. 
Sometimes they take back so far beyond the grandparents that nothing 
but family tradition or record can connect their characteristics with their 
ancestors. Some people do not believe in the influence of heredity. In 
the attempt to prove their theory they will cite cases where the law of 
heredity has apparently failed. One such attempt that I recently noted 
in a newspaper was amusing. 

A list of poets was given with the statement that the poetic gift had not 
been transmitted to the children . This was true. Quite a number of 
those given in the list were never married and several of those who were 
had no children . The children of others died young. With all such 
attempts to discredit one of the most powerful laws of nature the full 
facts relating to both sides of the union are either suppressed or are not 
known . 

What is true of the higher orders is also true with our domestic an- 
imals and birds. When traits that seem to be especially prominent, 
are not transmitted, it is because those traits were not as persistent as 
we supposed, or they have been overpowered by more persistent traits 
that we failed to note. Pedigree breeding is the only correct founda- 
tion for a strain of superior merit in any direction. 

No man can tell by looking at a pair what the offspring will be. 
Standard points, prolificacy, health, vigor, and the power to transmit 
them are all governed by the principles herein outlined, and the truth 
of the maxim that "like begets like,'' will depend in a great measure 
upon our knowledge of each individual breeder, its ancestry and its 
previous offspring, if any. 



SINGLE VS. MULTIPLE MATING 81 

SINGLE vs. MULTIPLE MATING. 

To treat of this subject briefly- is no -mall task. To treat of it ex- 
haustively i> utterly beyond the capability of the writer. Single mating 
is the mating of a single pair — one male with one female. When the. 
Creator in his infinite wisdom selected a type of lite that was to domi- 
nate all other type- lie arranged for their propagation and permanence 
by mating a single pair. Who they were, where or when they existed 
is not material to this discussion. According to tradition like did not 
beget like in a complete degree. One son was a degenerate. The 
principle of the single mating, followed through all the ages, has brought 
man to his present high state. Races that have violated this rule have 
invariably degenerated. This is the fundamental law governing the im- 
provement of species in so far as it is governed by the laws of repro- 
duction. Economic condition must always modify all laws, human or 
divine, and in nature we often find multiple mating supplanting at least 
for a time, the single mating, numbers being apparently of more conse- 
quence than individual merit. II will not be necessary that the 
Thoughtful Header should have attained the eminence of a Darwin, or 
the dignity of a breeder of fowls even, to follow me along this line. 

Nature's processes are outlined in a free library that is. to a greater 
or less extent, available by the most humble of US. Nature has arranged 
for the greatest possible measure of success in the reproduction of large 
numbers from a single pair in the organisms of the male and the female 
and by providing the instinct of mutual attraction. This principle of 
unit mil attraction is of the utmost importance. 

The maximum of fertility and vigorous offspring can only be attained 
where each mating is the result of a mutual attraction or agreement be- 
tween male and female. 

This is the only unavoidable barrier to high fertility with multiple 
matings,— one male with numbers of females. The larger the number of 
female- the more there will be that do not mate willingly or will not be 
served by the male. When nature seeks to reproduce a specific type ; off- 
spring that will be exact counterparts of the parents in appearance and in 
tendencies : she not only calls mutual attraction to bear to insure success in 
numbers, but she applies tli \ principle of consanguinity, — the blood re- 
lation. Mutual attraction and consanguinity are. then, the keys that 
unlock the treasure house of nature's mysteries to all who wish to study 
the underlying principles of cause and effect as they relate to the prop- 
agation of. and the improvement of any species of animal life. 

The improvement of a family of hens is impossible unless some one 
practices in breeding. 

The novice who inbreeds simply to avoid buying new blood will invari- 
ably cause degeneration in his flock and will utterly ruin it in time. The 



82 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

person who allows the cost to regulate his judgment will never do the 
be<t thing. The right way is the only way to achieve the most perfect 
results. The breeder of birds or animals who is aiming for improvement 
asks himself first: "what is the right way?" What it will cost to fol- 
low the correct course is a secondary consideration, and should not be 
considered when we are seeking the right thing to do. When this first 
principle becomes fixed in the mind, then the cost becomes an important 
factor. If we cannot see our way clear to do what appears to be the best 
thing we should take the next best or the nearest approach to it that 
seems practicable . 

The highest possible success in the improvement of a family of fowls 
would attend the efforts of the intelligent and wise breeder who would 
practice single matings with single pairs, housed and maintained sepa- 
rately. This would usually cost too much. The nearest approach to 
this plan that is economically practicable is the one to pursue. 

THE FALLACY OF THE SO CALLED LAW OF SEX* 

"Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed that he hath grown so great ?" 

Briefly stated the so-called law of sex consists of a claim that, if a 
certain method of procedure be followed, we can produce males or 
females at will., either in reproducing ourselves or our animals and 
birds. The author, or authors, of the so-called law have never known 
of a case where the scheme worked ; hence they are able to produce 
nothing but apparent coincidences to support the assumption. Tins has 
been a common expedient with the dreamer through all the ages. 

There are two reasons why we cannot accept this so-called "law of 
sex." First: its basis is wholly untenable. Second: even if the 
claimed conditions determined the matter, it would be impossible for 
us to supply and maintain the conditions. 

Man is a wonderful creature, and, under the guidance of and aided 
by a Higher Power, has wrought remarkable changes in the animal and 
vegetable worlds. This gives finite man an exceedingly good opinion 
of himself. The late Mr. Tngersoll had noted this so much that he was 
led to pen that famous line: Man has created Clod in his own image. 

Those of us who sincerely believe in an Infinite Being will. I believe, 
see that, should man be able to control sex at will, he could overturn 
the established order of things to such an extent as to completely extin- 
guish a family or a race. Nature will never reveal to us any law that 
would enable us to accomplish such a thing. 

What a graft the Chinese would have with such a law lying around 
loose in their houses with their notions regarding sex. Were there 
such a law they would claim it. as they claim priority in everything. 

While the primary- influences that control the sex principle in the em- 
bryo are not understood, it has been quite clearly shown that, up to a 



THE FALLACY < M-" THE BGG TYPE II I K< »K V 83 

certain stage of development, the male and female orpins are both pres- 
ent and both equally developed. What destroys this balance and 
causes one sex i»» dominate is not yel known, but we have excellent 
reasons for believing" that the sex has not been predetermined up to the 
time that this change takes place. Sometimes the determining factor 
seems to be absent and the hermaphrodite result--. 

We have no reason to believe that there is any sex whatever present 
in the vitalized germ contained in a new laid egg. When the egg has 
been incubated long enough for the embryo to reach the fight stage of 
development the matter of sex is determined. It' man is ever going to 
control the matter, that is the time for him to operate. 

THE FALLACY OF THE "EGG TYPE" THEORY. 

It is so difficult for us to understand what we cannot see that we are 
constantly seeking for some visible sign by which we can determine, 
(usually without effort on our part) whatever we wish to know about 
every object animate or inanimate that attracts our attention. 

Any characteristic, or any combination of characteristics, visible to 
the eye or not. that always accompanies a specific performance, a spe- 
cific trait, or a specific quality. <</<</ is always absent when such per- 
formance, trait or quality is absent, constitutes a reliable type by 
which those who are competent are able to predetermine, accurately, 
what performance, trait or quality will be present or absent in the ob- 
ject under examination. 

What a task. then, has the investigator who seeks for the -egg type," 
as it is usually understood, set before him. He has to discover a large 
number of birds that are prolific and a large number that, when main- 
tained under equally favorable conditions, are not prolific. These 
birds must be taken from many breeds and different families within 
each breed. The product of each specimen examined must be meas- 
ured with a sufficient degree of accuracy so that no mistakes in that 
regard are possible. Hearsay evidence that is unsupported by an indi- 
vidual v^'j; record must, therefore, be rigidly excluded from the start. 

The experimenter should not allow himself to be encouraged by an 
alleged ••dairy-type" of cow. While there is a fair analogy between 
egg production and milk production when we are considering the com- 
position of the two products and the importance of individual measure- 
ment . there i> a> vet no apparent analogy beyond that. The quantity 
and the richness of the milk that the dairy cow gives up at each milking 
i> the standard of measure in the dairy herd, in the poultry yard we 
expect but one v^ at a time and the quantity of nutriment contained 
within that egg has not as yet been connected with this question. If. 
therefore, we look for a capacious abdomen in the ••egg type" hen 



84 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

merely because the great milker has a large udder, we are off the track 
at the outset. 

We desire to know, not how much egg our prolific hen will lay in 
one day, but how many days will there be in which she will give us 
one egg. The size of the egg, though important, is secondary at this 
time. A simple mathematical calculation will enable us to get an ap- 
proximate idea of the number of eggs, that have become sufficiently ad- 
vanced in growth to be affected by the length of the oviduct, that could 
be present at one time. I am neither affirming or denying that a large 
egg yield is only possible with a bird having a large and prominent ab- 
domen or • -egg basket."' lean say, however, that I count my eggs 
after they get into my basket and the size of the hen's basket has .had 
no apparent relation to the number of eggs that she would contribute 
to mine. 

A contributor to Commercial Poultry affirmed that the typical shape 
of the Leghorn would be found to be typical of the prolific hen. He 
based his claim upon what he said was true with his Plymouth Rocks. 
A several years use of trap nests had shown him that his most pro- 
lific layers resembled the Leghorn in shape. If* the "egg type" or the 
prolific type can be determined upon such- slight evidence as that, then 
we may expect a great many different egg types and a larger individual 
supremacy among Leghorns than has yet been disclosed. 

All living birds are of the egg type whether they are Leghorns, Os- 
triches or English Sparrows. The prolific type of the domestic fowl 
can be determined by suitably maintaining the bird and counting her 
eggs. That this type will carry with it distinguishing marks that can 
be seen with the eye or felt by the hand remains to be determined. At 
present we know of no prolific type except such as is shown by the egg 
producing tendency of habit of the individual. 

That prolific layers will usually have bodies longer than wide I be- 
lieve. That unprolihc layers will also present the same characteristic 
I also believe. 

••The prolific shape" has very graciously adapted itself so as to include 
a very large proportion of the hen family. That modifying this shape 
excessively in order to obtain a distinguishing feature for some fancy 
breed or strain would be likely to interfere with perfect development of 
the vital organs and thus ruin the egg producing qualities of the strain 
or breed seems reasonable. Nature abhors a monstrosity as well as a 
vacuum . 

INDIVIDUAL MERIT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A 

BUYER. 
It is obvious to every buyer that individual excellence should deter- 
mine the value of a bird. 



lMMVIIHAI. MERIT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A RUYER 8*> 

A world-famous poultry man and editor once (old a correspondent 
that --a bird is worth all thai you can get for it."* It would be pretty 
hard to make a novice whose judgment of quality is practically value- 
less, believe that statement if he were buying a bird. It might seem 
all right it' he were selling one. 

There often exists a double barrier between buyers and sellers that 
cannot be leveled. We have the ignorance and the cupidity of many 
buyers and the cupidity and the ignorance «of some sellers as a perma- 
nent bar to satisfactory transactions. The determining of the equable 
cash value of a bird depends upon the individual merit of each party to 
the transfer as well as that of the specimen sold. In looking- at this 
question from the view point of a buyer possessing average intelligence 
and fairmindedness we have to consider facts as they really are. or as 
they appear to us. 

It is not the duty of the poultry press or of the writer to encourage 
the idea that every novice is legitimately "a soft mark" for the adver- 
tiser, while it should be the duty of every friend of the business to 
combat the all-too-prevalent notion that nearly all advertisers consider 
him SO; 

The American Poultry Association and the Specialty Clubs in for- 
mulating- standards for the different breeds have presumably done so 
for the guidance of the breeder. The buyer who demands their impos- 
sible ideal for a rummage-sale price of $1.99 is demanding- too much, 
but he is entitled to a dollar's worth of value for every dollar that he 
invests in a bird. 

It is doubtful if the good reputation of a breeder has any honest cash 
value to the average beginner, but the blood that gave the breeder his 
reputation may. There is little doubt that this value is sometimes in- 
flated. It is my candid belief that some breeders of established reputa- 
tion send too few birds to market. 

A case in mind is one where $20.00 was the price paid for a bird (at 
once returned) that in the opinion of the fairly well informed buyer was 
worth seven cents per pound. 

Utility has for years been a catchword that has truly covered a mul- 
titude of sins, or has attempted to cover them. If a farmer or a market 
poultry raiser chooses to utterly disregard the general standard require- 
ments — the distinguishing- characteristic — of a breed in his efforts to 
maintain or improve utility qualities he has a perfect right to do so. 

If such a person can make sales to parties who come to his place and 
see his stock he has a perfect right to do so. But when he places his ad. 
in a poultry paper he is offering his stock, --sight unseen." to those who 
are more or less educated along Standard lines and expect pure-blood 
stock possessing characteristics, visible to the eye. that prove the gen- 



86 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

uineness of their breeding. He has a right to expect this and he should 
get it. 

A number of years ago the writer sent five dollars to a breeder, then 
doing a large business in "Utility Barred Plymouth Rocks" and another 
breed, for a cockerel. I received a bird that by a considerable stretch 
of the imagination might be called a Barred Plymouth Rock, but his 
like had probably never before been seen in this locality. A local sage, 
whose standards were and are much lower than those of the average 

buyer, said: "If that is one of 's $5.00 birds T should like to see 

one of his $2.00 ones, "and his tone left nothing to be surmised. This 
bird did not suit the ignorant novice then, and the slight knowledge ob- 
tained since does not, in the retrospect, add to his value. The bird was 
returned and I received my live dollars, but was out the express charge, 
a coop and several weeks time. A letter from the seller, in which he 
acknowledged his error and stated that he '-usually sent such birds to 
market when six weeks old but will now sell him for -f 2.00 to some 
farmer to improve his flock."" did not help me much. I still pity the 
farmer who may have improved his flock with such a bird. 

I use this illustration simply to bring out my point and not to air a 
grievance. I got a satisfactory bird from one of the best known strains 
of Standard-bred Rocks in the world for that money and think on the 
Avhole the circumstance was fortunate. 

There is no apparent excuse for such a condition of things. There 
can be no doubt that in the hands of a great many fanciers the utility 
qualities of their birds have deteriorated, been completely ignored in 
fact, but it has not been so with all. 

It is not necessary for the ultra-utility breeder to compete for prizes 
at the shows or to sacrifice a great deal to fancy points, but he should 
not ignore the Standard if he is to advertise pure-bred poultry. 

Pure-bred Rocks, for example, do not have rose combs or feathered 
shanks. All of the breeds liaA-e certain distinguishing features that are 
supposed to denote purity and the utility breeder should not ignore 
them if he is to advertise pure-bred stock. 

There is no "egg type" that can be determined by external appearance. 
The monstrosities in shape and comb that are sometimes bred on an egg- 
type theory— which, even as a theory, seems to differ with about every 
theorist — are but caricatures of worth} breeds. 

When a farmer or market-poultry raiser has read his poultry 
paper sufficiently to become convinced that pure-bred hens are better in 
every way than scrubs, and sends, often with doubt and misgiving, his 
good money to an advertiser who claims a pure-blood strain, bred for 
eggs — perhaps named for the number of eggs that one exceptional hen 
happened to lay in a year — he should receive pure blood for his money 
and not a conglomeration of dunghill and several breeds that has been 



i\1)lvri)lAI. MERIT FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A BI'YEK H'i 

♦ 

numefl for tin 1 one that, in the breeder's eye ii mosl resembles. 

Utility is o good slogan for every breeder who has the interest of the 
domestic hen al heart, and - il is of happy omen that honest, intelligent 
breeders all over our land are working along "business and beauty" 
lines, improving their flocks in both utility ;in<l Standard points. 

Many assume that the tanner oares nothing for fine feathers because 
he sometimes talks that way in self defence; but when he once decides 
to send away for a "full-blooded rooster'* he often wants all the fine 
feathers and gilded beaks and shanks, bay eyes and five point comb that 
would go with a very expensive bird. 

We do not all care to breed for the show room or to take the trouble 
to prepare birds to show, even if we have those that we think are worthy. 
A low rating on a score card is no disgrace, but a low nest-record, if 
the fault of the bird, should be. Individual merit should show in ex- 
ternal appearance, in the nest and in the progeny. Upon this merit. 
which should be in some degree discernable by a reasonably intelligent 
buyer, the cash value of the bird should be based. 

INDIVIDUAL MERIT. 

Straight Talk by a Fancier on the Evils of Selling Poor Birds With Pedigrees 

at High Prices. 

BY A. P. WIXSr,OW, IN THE POt'I/fRY KEEPER. 

Ill breeding poultry, as in man}- other things, individual merit is lost 
sight of, and inferior birds are used in the breeding pens, and sold on the 
strength of the breeding. Blood will tell in poultry as in everything 
else, but breeding should not be looked upon as the only object in view. 
Line breeding is all right and if carefully followed will surely produce 
more uniform birds, but even in line-bred stock the greater the value 
placed upon individual merit the greater will be the success. 

I am a firm believer in good breeding, but I also believe in individual 
merit. A few years ago Maine horse breeders were after pedigrees. Any 
old thing that had a pedigree was bred and no attention was paid to the 
individual merits of the horse. The result was that many people had 
good hard cash tied up in horses that were bred for speed, but did not 
have such qualities as go to make up a salable horse, and such horses were 
cheap with no market for them and Maine breeders did not breed many 
horses for a few years. Now the breeders are breeding for individual 
merit and. while good breeding^ desired, a horse that possesses individual- 
ity is selling for good prices. 

In poultry the same principle holds good. In buying stock the buyers 
can not hold a veil of winnings over a bird that has no merits of its own, 
but is simply backed up by the breeding back of it. A buyer pays $20 for 
a bird and when the bird arrives he finds he has paid $18 for breeding and 
$2 for the merits of the bird. He writes the seller and gets a reply saying 
that the bird is closelv related to a line of winners! 



88 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

• 

I think it is the duty of breeders of poultry to place themselves face to 
face with the buyer, so to speak, and looking at it from this point of 
view think what that bird is worth. Remember, he has no other birds 
bred in the same lines as this one, he does not know how this bird is bred 
or how many prizes its ancestors have won, but he is buying this bird to 
get new blood, to improve his stock, and he looks at the individual merits 
of the bird and has a perfect right to expect his money's worth, not in 
breeding alone, but in that individual bird. 

With good individuality the chances are that the bird was well bred and 
will breed well. Good specimens are not in many cases a case of chance, 
but are the result of careful and systematic breeding. 

Poor birds will come from any mating, I care not how good, but good 
birds from a poor mating are seldom met with. We should not close our 
eyes to the defects in our birds simply because they have good breeding 
back of them. But rather should we keep our eyes open for defects in 
our birds and by good breeding and by using birds with individuality as 
well, remedy those defects and thus make like produce like, but we want 
that like to be a bird with individuality. It has been said, "A man's as 
good as he makes himself, but no man's any good because his grandfather 
was." The above is as true in poultry as in men. 

A PROPHECY. 

To my mind the time will come when the effort of breeders who are 
trying- to raise the standard of egg production, will be to produce, by 
breeding and general maintenance, a hen that will lay. as nearly as 
may be, an egg a day every da}' in the year. 

I regard the figures 365, as a standard of egg' production, as being- 
analogous to the fancier's standard of loo. Impossible to attain, but. as 
a standard of a perfect egg yield, one to be aimed at. 

I believe that, when the laws of breeding' as they will be found to ap- 
ply to improvement in egg production are as clearly understood, and as 
intelligently acted upon as those which apply to standard points are 
now understood and worked out by the most successful fanciers, the 
production of a 347-egg hen will represent no greater progress than is 
now shown by a 05 point specimen in the show room. 

347 eggs per year bears practically the same relation to our standard 
of 3(35 that 05 bears to loo. 

I think that any expert poultry feeder who can obtain an average of 
over 150 eix^> per hen with a flock of loo or 200 hens will be surprised 
at the work of some of the individuals if he keeps track of them. It 
may very reasonably be claimed that there may be a great deal of dif- 
ference between the skill and care required to so maintain a hen that 
she will lay close enough to an egg a day to score :'>47 egg-points and 
that required to raise and prepare for the -how room a 05 point speci- 
men. We cannot, anv of us, do more than guess at that. 



\ PROPHKCTi S!> 

This is not ;i question for either the novice or tlie veteran to gel hys- 
terical over, — the one in ;i burst of enthusiasm, the other in a tit of 
condemnation. Neither the one nor the other knows all about it. 

Obstacles can be conjured up, and vividly portrayed as being insur- 
mountable. Success, or partial success, is noi attained by creating 
imaginary obstacles. 

It is well enough to enquire the way if we find those who know the 
way, 1 nit we can cross no bridges until we come to them. The success 
that has been attained by men who were blindfolded by false theories 
and handicapped by unsuitable methods should encourage those who 
care to glimpse into the future to lake a decidedly optimistic view of the 
future possibilities of the domestic hen as an egg producer. The alarm- 
ist will perhaps have a tit of indigestion followed by a nightmare 
when he meets with this theory and predict the ultimate ruination 
of the egg business. "Hens will lay so many eggs that prices will drop 
below par and there will he no money in il." If he does he will take 
more stock in the theory than does the author. There will never be 
300-egg hens enough to seriously affect quotations in our market 
reports. 

The poultryman, or the prospective poultryman who may chance to 
peruse these day dreams should not think that 1 recommend him to 
spend any valuable time in idle speculation thereon. Far from it. The 
man who is obliged to gel immediate profits from his business, what- 
ever it may he. should hold all speculative theories at a respectful dis- 
tance. Do not let dreaming interfere with your business, but remember 
that all human progress has resulted from dreams. Inch by inch, step 
b\ step, we advance toward some future goal. Some drop out. some 
fall, hut the others move on. 

The busy poultryman lias little time for experimenting. He works 
mainly along lines that he feels sure of. and leaves experimenl and the 
initial steps toward progress to others. ' He can learn by- reading, what 
lie will rarely learn in practice. What improvement he makes will he 
gradual and more or le>> >uvr according to his light. 

I will caution the enthusiastic novice to he very careful how he ac- 
cepts the claims of those who feed his credulity with big figures. At 
the present time hens that can and do lay 200 eggs in less than twelve 
months are very common, reckoned as occasional individuals. Flocks 
that have, do. or will average 200 eggs per hen under ordinary to 
fair conditions of feeding and care are not common. The 200-egg 
strain is probably just as common as 90-poin1 -train- or prize- winning 
strains. A genuine 200-egg strain would he characterized by its ten- 
dency to produce as large a proportion of 200-egg hens as a prize-win- 
ning strain would of high-scoring specimens. A strain is supposed 
to take it> name from some family characteristic. Contemporary adver- 



90 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

tising to the contrary notwithstanding, breeders of prize winners get 
plenty of culls and breeders of 200-egg hens sometimes get more poor 
layers than they want. Flocks can be found that have averaged over 
200 eggs for each hen per year. Where can we find the flock that will 
average enough points to win first prize at the Boston show reckoning 
the "better birds that were left at home?'" That word "strain" is a poor 
one to bet money on at the present stage of the game. There are honest 
strains, lots of them, but contemporary advertising shows that the term 
can be applied to almost anything by people who do not even know the 
real meaning of the word. 

The oOO-egg hen is not a creature of some modern pipe-dream. In 
lS7(i 1. K. Felch sold a Light Brahma hen to Jeremiah P>. P. Lacld. 
The third day after she was purchased she began to lay and produced 
318 eggs in 3B;3 consecutive days, when she stopped. The next year she 
laid 138 eggs in less than six months when she was sold. Through the 
kindness of Mr. Felch I am able to give the following affidavit of the 
record of this remarkable hen. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 

This is to certify that the Light Brahma hen, known as "Rebecca No. 
3935-" which I bought of I. K. Felch January ist, 1876 commenced to lay 
on the third day of said January and laid three hundred and eighteen eggs 
in three hundred and thirty-three consecutive days, when she stopped. 
She began to lay again on the first day of February and up to July 28th, 
when I sold her, she had laid one hundred and thirty-three eggs. She 
never wanted to sit while I owned her. This statement is made from 
actual record and is true in every particular, 
f . ) (Signed) Jeremiah B. P. Ladd. 

This is to certify that I am cognizant of the facts in relation to the lay- 
ing qualities of the hen "Rebecca No. 3935" as above, having handled 
her a part of the time covered in the above certificate of her owner, and 
I have personal knowledge that the foregoing statement is a true and 
correct account of the eggs laid by the aforesaid hen. 
f eal 'l (Signed) H. C. Fegan. 

Essex S. S. December 30, 1878. 

Personally appeared the above named, Jeremiah B. P. Ladd and Henry 

C. Fegan, whom I know to be reliable and entitled to credit, and made 

oath to the truth of the above statements by them made, this day, before 

me. 

(Signed) Gardner P. Ladd, Justice of the Peace. 



T1IK UNRELIABILITY <U" RECKONING AVERAGES 

CHAPTER X. 



THE UNRELIABILITY OF THE COMMON METHOD 
OF RECKONING AVERAGES ILLUSTRATED. 

Foods and feeding. Early maturity. Meat or eggs, which ? The Exceptional 
hen. Treatment of sick hens. Practice vs. theory. 

IT IS customary to divide the total number of eggs received in a given 
time trout a flock of hens pro rata among the total number of 
females in the flock ; the resulting average being taken as an approxi- 
mate total number of each bird's work during that time, [f the average 
is is eggs per hen in one month the hen that laid 28 i> underestimated 
and the hen thai laid none or but few, is given credit thai belongs to 
the others. 

A well-known breeder once wrote me thai when ;i flock averaged 17 
eggs each per month he knew that there were not many poor layers in 
it and he was safe in breeding from them. 

Here is an egg record of one of my pens for a month. This Hock had 
been culled once. All of these birds were discarded when the breeding 
pens were made up. Number of birds 34. Number of eggs laid 544. 
Average per bird Hi. 15 of these birds laid only L7 9 eggs, an aver- 
age of 12 each. The other ID laid the balance, or an average of 19 plus 
each. 7 of these laid 157 eggs, an average of ~2~1 plus each. While there 
were sonic fair layers in this flock they were not used for breeders be- 
cause I had some that 1 believed to be better. It will be seen that 
although the average for the flock is not bad. nearly half of them were 
very ordinary layers when we take into consideration the fact that they 
were pullets, ten months old and were not broody during the month. 

There were 9 two-year-olds in this flock, eight of which were among 
the good layers. 

Elsewhere in this book is an account of one of my pens of old liens, 
(2:> birds) that averaged 124 plus last year. Vet two of them laid 177 
eggs each, one 162 and one 151. 19 laid over ion eggs, 4 laid less than 
100, the lowest giving but 71 eggs. This was a select flock retained 
after repeated cullings for several years. 

With apparent reason it has been claimed that even if there are poor 
layers in the breeding pen we set lint few eggs from them, as they lay 
but few. Opposed to this is the clearly proven fact that some individ- 
uals will do the best part of their year's laying in the >priii,n-. and often 
they give us the very finesl looking eggs; the ones most likely to be 
selected for hatching. While a poor yearly layer may not give us 25or 
;»0 eggs per month in the breeding season, yet she may give us from 10 
to 15; enough to produce quite a number of chicks. A good layer is 



02 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

the one that has a persistent egg-producing tendency or habit that tends 
to dominate and control all other tendencies that are opposed to prolif- 
icacy. This persistency may disclose itself in the spring season or at 
any other time, but the eggs must be counted and, together with other 
data, made a subject of record. 

One poultryman of considerable experience refused to have any deal- 
ings with me because I marked a hen as having laid 26 eggs in one month. 

He said in his letter. -No chicken will lay 26 eggs in one month. " 
If that man didn't need a little trap-nest enlightenment no man ever did. 

Thus it is that a careful man underestimates his best layers when 
averaging egg yields in the usual way. while others appear to have a 
method similar to that of an applicant for the chair of astronomy in a 
college: asked how he would measure the distance from the earth to the 
sun, he is said to have replied, ••[ would guess half the distance and 
multiply by two.'" 

FOODS AND FEEDING. 

"One man's meat is another man's poison." 

1 have very little to say here about foods and feeding. The feeding 
of hens is no doubt just as important a matter to the hens as the feeding 
of other live stock and ourselves is to the stock and to us. More seems 
to be known about this subject than any other that is connected with 
poultry keeping, if we are to judge by the quantity of what we read and 
hear. One can get about all of it in a full year's numbers of any good 
poultry paper at 25 cents to *1 .00 per year. He can then judge for him- 
self how much is actually settled regarding the feeding of fowls. It 
seems to be generally agreed that hens should be fed. and that if they 
are expected to lay well they should be fe d w ell. W e w o r k 
to get money to buy food to support us while we work to get more 
monev to buy more food etc., but as the hen knows nothing of money, 
if she works {it all it must be for the food itself. As an idle hen is a 
charitv patient it is best to make her work for a part other food. This 
seems to be quite generally recognized. 

My friend with a feeding hobby declares that this whole matter of egg- 
production is one of feeding and care. He has not yet explained why 
it is that some of our hens, or some of his own for that matter, may lay 
but 75 or loo eggs while others lay close to 200 or more with precisely the 
same food and care and nothing in their appearance to account for it. 

Tin 1 man who can tell a good layer the moment he sets his eyes on her 
points out one of our birds as being just the thing and we find that she 
is not laying at all and never laid well. He selects another as being way 
below par and the records show her to be one of the best in the bunch. 
He picks up a pullet in the fall and says that she is too fat to lay and 



K< ><>!>> AND FEEDING 



93 



the trap-nest shows her to be the only pullet in the lot that is laying; 

The feeding enthusiast tells us that too much whole grain will get 
our layers too fat and that to fatten old hens for market we must feed 
corn meal mash as they will not fatten on whole grain. 

We arc told that oats is the great egg food, then agaiu it is wheat, 
then corn: then it is mash in the morning, or at noon, or at night, that 
will do the trick. Then we get a dose of compound fractions and chem- 
ical ratios that would force an agg a day from a crow, if we are to credit 
the whole of all the stories. 

I have mixed balanced rations according to my humble ability to in- 
terpret the most approved methods of modern science and have also 
tried the ultra-practical rations of the man who does not believe in any- 
thing but ancient science. 1 have found nothing worse than the first — 
except the second — and my hens manufactured eggs and deposited them 
in the proper place in spite of either. I have a decided partiality for 
genuine science, perhaps because [ know so little about if. \\ hen I 
get a chance to investigate the subject of foods and feeding I propose to 
throughly test the Midland Poultry Foods, or something in that line. for. 
if this matter is one-half as complicated as it i> claimed to be. it i- dis- 
tinctly the work for specialists who will honorably take our good money 
and give us real value in return. We do not get it in the "practical" 
ration, usually. If. as I more than seven-eighths suspect, the complica- 
tion lies in the different tendencies of the distinct and separate birds that 
compose our flocks that, for convenience and economy, we are obliged 
to feed all together, then this problem of feeding is one that each poultry 
keeper will have to solve for himself with such help as he can get from 
experts, and others. 

If most condition powders and such were placed on the market accom- 
panied by reasonable claims and sold at a price that would justify their 
use I might take more stock in them than I do now. I have no doubt 
that they are useful at times, but 1 can afford to get along without them. 
It is no wonder that some who attempt to force v^^ from a hen at an 
expense of two or three cents each, object to any further expense or 
trouble in recording them. 

Dr. Weston's preparation appeals to me because it is reasonable in 
price and. as far as egg production goes, claims only this; "It assists them 
to lay all the v^s that nature calls for." That is all that any preparation 
can do as far as a number of dollar's worth of experiment and a good 
deal of trap-nest evidence has yet shown me. They generally give the 
best results w hen served for about two or three weeks before the hens 
would begin to lay anyway. The be>i f them are useful when their 
use is indicated by some condition in the flock that experience only can 
determine. The beginner should carefully guard against recklessly 
dosing the flock merely because he does not know what else to do. 



04 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

EARLY MATURITY. 

It seems reasonable that the craze tor early sexual maturity, combined 
with the practice of over-stimulating the reproductive organs of the 
growing chicks, should he largely responsible for the degeneracy that so 
often shoAVS itself in families of fowls just when the breeder should be 
reaping his reward for years of hard work. I read a short time ago in 
a leading poultry journal that a proline laying habit was the result of 
forcing the pullet to start laying as early as possible and they would get 
in the habit of it and keep right on. There may be rare cases where a 
precocious pullet will make a good layer: there may be rare eases where 
a precocious cockerel will attain good size and make a good breeder for 
two or three years, but in nine cases out of ten the reverse will be the 
case. The sexual life that starts early, fails early, with the human family, 
beasts or birds. The pullet that starts laying abnormally early will, as 
a rule, lay a few eggs and then stop. If she does not lay again for a 
long period, and the conditions are favorable for growth, she may make 
a good layer: otherwise not. in the majority of cases. While it is true 
that early-laying pullets may lay 200 or more vg>y> their first year, 
under very favorable conditions, they will rarely lay profitably the sec- 
ond year, and they will rarely if ever make good breeders. I have had 
Plymouth Rock pullets lay at five months of age. but many of those that 
did not begin until seven or eight months old proved to be the better 
layers. Hens that laid well in their third and fourth laying years ma- 
tured normally as pullets and have made my best breeders. 

It is my present belief that no breeder will ever succeed in producing 
a prolific strain of long lived birds by breeding from either males or 
females that develop sexual maturity at an age abnormally early for 
the strain. 

T do not discountenance the practice of driving pullets to the limit of 
their capacity for market eggs and then marketing the birds as soon as 
their profitable laying ability is exhausted. That is a business propo- 
sition purely : but such birds are unfit for the breeding pen. and any flock 
will run itself out if such birds are persistently bred from. 

The advice that we sometimes read to mark the earliest-laying pullets 
and the earliest crowing cockerels for future use as breeders may have 
sprung from good intentions, or it may be an echo from personally in- 
terested sources. 

The earliest laying pullet and the earliest crowing cock may be all 
right in some flocks. "Earliest" simply means that their sexual de- 
velopment is in advance of the others. 

Again, the advice may work well where chicks of different ages are 
all reared together and the owner cannot distinguish one hatch from 
another. The chicks will naturally tend to develop in the general 



KARLT MATl KIT V 95 

order of their age, and. generally considered, laying would begin in 
about the same order. There are, of course, quite numerous exceptions 
to this rule. 

Pullets and cockerels that are well developed by spring, and possess 
the other desired qualities, should be good breeders, but it is a common 
custom to use for hatching eggs from the general lot, and a large num- 
ber of these eggs are likely to come from immature pullets. This 
tendency can be discounted to a considerable extent by using only eggs 
that are of good size. 

As good development and constitutional vigor are essential to either 
permanence or improvement of species the general ideas that are ab- 
sorbed by the average beginner tend in a directly opposite direction to 
successful breeding. I have a Plymouth Lioek hen that when about five 
months old laid 20 eggs in 21 days. Considerable boasting of her per- 
formance drew out the fact that many people considered it as indicating 
an exceptionally valuable pullet, which I very much doubted. She 
would have gone to market that fall had 1 not desired to observe her 
through life. 

Eggs for hatching should be from birds that at the time of mating give 
individual evidence of merit combined with a history that justifies their 
use. 

Early laying is by no means governed by heredity alone. The time 
and nature of housing, the feeding and care, will hasten or retard lay- 
ing according as they are favorable or unfavorable to egg production. 

Improvement in fowls is governed by natural laws that are not in- 
fllienced by the price of eggs in October and November. Money values 
are often governed by natural laws, but Nature has no regard for 
money. 

The means commonly advocated for getting eggs when most people 
are not getting them are progressive attempts to force Nature to work 
for our selfish interests. Those people who meet with a measure of 
success in this effort are justly proud of their skill. Their methods, 
once radical and revolutionary departures from established customs, 
have become "conservative'" merely through lapse of time and fa- 
miliarity. They are as radical as ever to many a farmer. When an 
effort is made to. progress still further by taking out what is unnatural 
and unbusiness-like in their method and substituting therefor factors 
that are fully in accord with Nature and business wisdom we find those 
who object. They believe in progress lip to the point where they have 
stopped, but we must go no further. 

A March- or April-hatched pullet may normally come into full laying 
in the fall and meet our requirements in eggs when prices are high 
without detriment to her breeding qualities. Much, of course, depends 
upon the way she is handled. July-. August-, and September-hatched 



96 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

pullets are very likely to lay during the fall of their second year, when 
the early-hatched pullets of the previous year are ordinarily not laying. 

It will be impossible for a market poultry man to get the best results 
in egg' production or meat production and at the same time be able to 
select his breeding females and mate them for best results unless he 
combines an expert knowledge of his own birds with a knowledge of 
the best rules that are followed by the leading breeders of Standard 
fowls and the most successful market poultrymen. People who possess 
any of these requirements in a superior degree probably form a very 
small part of our poultry-breeding population. 

In descriptions of the exceptional poultry plants there appears much 
that leaves room for speculation. Professional writers usually know 
what looks best in print. The fact that X does a several-thousand- 
dollar business in a year does not carry with it anything that requires 
us to believe that he practices all that the advertising agent preaches for 
him or all that he preaches himself. It does not necessarily detract from 
its value if he does. not. 

A man's business is his own private property and we not only have 
no right to pry into it. but he is not bound to disclose anything that he 
prefers to hold back; unless public necessity demands it. 

Those who have even a slight trace of Sherlock Holmes'' genius for 
deduction can derive some little pleasure from a comparison of some of 
the facts which a practical use of trap nests will bring out with some of 
the fanciful romances that we occasionally read. 

Any of us who own or hire a bit of land can hatch and rear chickens 
and keep hens. We can by reading the best poultry literature and 
carefully studying our birds gradually learn the best way to care for 
them. Both our flock and our reading require careful and rigorous 
culling, and we have a clear right of way for independent 'study and 
judgment. The poultry industry is still in its formative period. Men 
have become established, but precedents are comparatively few upon 
which to establish methods. Some of the greatest successes depend up- 
on artificial conditions for their success. 

Three or four good poultry papers are sometimes more valuable than 
one. Occasionally some point of agreement between different writers 
will be found and can be noted in the memory, or it may do to hang our 
hat on, temporarily. 

One of these points is likely to be this matter of early maturity, for it 
was threshed out long ago. With no more light than I now possess if 
I wanted to get the best obtainable advice for growing young stock for 
the best results in future v^ij; production 1 would look to the veteran 
fancier rather than the average market poultryman. 

The greatest layers ever known have' been bred. by fanciers, and 1 
want to advise niv utility brother, or sister, that, while bad practice is 



EARLY MATURITY 97 

no doubl running riot in the fancy the same is true in utility circles. 
The pxpcrt fancier possesses the besl knowledge of the laws of breeding. 

The show room lias attracted all sorts of superficial breeders, but util- 
ity would many times do well t<> gel hold of some of the rules of good 
practice observed by fanciers. 

Unfortunately a blue ribbon does uol carry with it a guarantee of pro- 
lificacy. At the presenl stage of the art it seems hardly reasonable to 
suppose thai any considerable number of fanciers would discard birds 
possessing superior Standard qualities merely because they exhibited 
tendencies opposed to ureal egg production. It is far easier to scoff at 
the "theory," deny the tendency, claim prolificacy, and make a run for 
the ribbons with their financial attraction.-. Yet, for all this, stock from 
the yards and eggs of fanciers who win in "hot company" have proved 
to be grand layers. So have some mongrels. 

It is a condition all around that causes both deep reflection and much 
loose talk, hut it is unavoidable. 

Self-interesl prostitutes truth and retards progress ; yet truth cannot 
be found, and progress i> impossible without self-interest. 

This matter of early laying often appears in a wrong light to the or- 
dinary poultry raiser. lie may have 100 pullets. They begin to lay 
in September. They lay an average of three eggs each in ( October. The 
average gradually increases through November, December and Jan- 
uary. In February they lay quite well, in March and April still better. 
The point of error is in the wordthey. The size of the Hock and egg yield 
are always associated in the owner's mind. Very likely all of 
the eggs laid in September were laid by three or four pullets, perhaps 
by one. Eight or ten. or perhaps less, may he laying in October, but 
it i- possible that none of them are the same that laid in September. In 
November a new lot may come along and the previous layers stop. New 
ones may begin faster than the earlier layers stop thus increasing the 
general egg supplv until Februarv or March, when those that had begun 
early and stopped, have begun again. Their eggs added to those of the 
pullets that did not begin laying until .January. February or March 
make up a fair total. The poultry keeper imagines that tin' earliest lay- 
er- have kept laying all the time, excepting those that may have become 
broody, and that the average each month represented fairly well the 
work of each bird. Such i- probably never the case in an ordinary 
flock. Pullet- often lay regularly and freely from the very first egg. 
If a pen of 12 pullets .nave 20 eggs in September it is perfectly possible 
that one pullet laid them all. I go! 26 eggs one. September from a lot 
of pullets and 20 came from one pullet and six from another. 

[n late summer and fall when the hens are in molt the situation is 
reversed. One by one the hens stop laying entirely, but certain ones 
keep right on: they are persistent. A few eggs per week from the 



OS THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

molting flock does not prove that most of the birds are laying an occa- 
sional egg. One or more hens are very probably laying all of the eggs. 

I have had something like 80 eggs in October "from 21 hens," but 
four hens laid them all. One laid 23, 17 did not lay an egg. 

It is this principle that makes references to flocks of hens as laying a 
certain number of eggs sometimes appear nn satisfactory to one who has 
been accustomed to treat as laying hens only those individuals that ac- 
tually do lay, and to credit a bird with being a "good layer" only when 
that bird has proven her worth in the nest. 

Practical necessities require that we keep our hens in flocks and treat 
each flock as a unit in a great measure, but they do not require that we 
sink individual performance out of sight altogether. 

The product of the hen is low in value, individually considered. So, 
also, is a single grain of wheat, but the expert goes into the wheat field 
and carefully fertilizes one kind of wheat with another and afterward 
collects, grain by grain, the seed that will later produce a new and 
better strain of wheat that may later enrich the very farmer who sneered 
at his work on the ground that it was not "practical." 

MEAT OR EGGS! WHICH? 

That poultry breeding, as a business, is yet far behind the breeding 
of cattle and horses is well shown by the general practice of attempting 
to unite, in one breed, or in a single "strain" or family of one breed 
about all of the qualities that all hens, separately considered, are known 
to possess. Thus, in attempting the impossible, the breeder can never 
attain the highest development of any one quality. 

If we desire to hatch and rear chickens with our own hens we must 
to be sure of the best results, breed hens that possess the incubating in- 
stinct in a high degree and are well adapted, by size and disposition, to 
mother the chicks. 

Such females as these can never give the best results in egg pro- 
duction . For great egg production we want females that are not much 
inclined to broodiness. 

While broodiness can be controlled to a considerable degree, when 
suitable means are employed, it is an obstacle to prolificacy in proportion 
to the strength of the tendency. It certainly is not determined by 
methods of feeding or composition of feeds to the extent that many 
suppose. 

The tendency to convert the food elements into flesh or eggs is also, 
in a very marked degree, an individual trait. It is not clear how either 
of these tendencies can ever become a family characteristic until the 
breeder separates the one tendency from the other, for we cannot get 
the maximum of profit in ('gg^ and meat in one and the same bird, no 
matter how we feed. 



meat oe i-:<;<;s ! which ? 99 

Tlie tendency to make eggs on almost any ration is so strong with 
some females that it becomes a serious problem how to so feed as to 
maintain them in good condition. With others it is impossible to feed 
well without causing them to pul on flesh instead of laying profitably. 

Tt seems that this principle has long been recognized by cattle breeders. 
It is claimed that the dairy cowthat is a heavy milker cannot be so fed 
as to take on a good quantity of flesh profitably, for she will convert 
the food to milk. [f she is fattened, each pound of added flesh costs 
more than it will bring in the market. 

It is also said that the most expert feeders of beef cattle employ ;i ra- 
tion rich in protein that, if fed to dairy cows in sufficient quantity would 
enable them to yield their capacity of milk. 

Expert poultry fatteners claim that they often find mature hens that 
will persist in converting their food to eggs in spite of efforts to fatten 
them. A crude attempt of the writer's to fatten his Hist flock of mon- 
grels came to naught from this cause. The hens were old enough to 
market and were shut up in a pen. whole corn left before them and soft 
food fed heavily. In two weeks, or thereabout, so many of them were 
laying thai but few were sold. 

It is often a difficult matter to put good flesh (free fat is objectionable) 
on an adult fowl fast enough to be profitable unless there is a tendency 
to make flesh rather than eggs. If it is done it will usually cost more 
than it will bring. Full feeding of a suitable ration would tend to pro- 
duce the best of flesh on those birds of a natural flesh forming tendency 
and enable the others to produce eggs according to their capacity. 

When bloodiness or molting has stopped egg production there is 
usually an increased tendency to fatten, naturally due to the condition. 

All this does not imply that individual tendencies alone control meat 
or egg production, but that the best results in quality and profit would 
be obtained by recognizing that these two qualities are in a great meas- 
ure distinct and that exceptional gains are not likely to be made and 
retained by attempting to unite them in one strain. 

Because our birds get heavy when deprived of exercise, or when fed 
heavily when not laying, it does not prove that the increase in weight 
has not cost more than it will bring in the market. Neither will ex- 
amination of the birds on the roost tell the story. A good layer may 
be fat and a poor layer thin, or the reverse may be true, but the known 
laying habit of the bird and observations of her condition will give a 
good idea of her tendencies and value. 

That this principle is not more generally understood is no doubt due 
to the practice of treating the flock as a unit for one thing, and because 
of the great differences of opinion, and of interests , as to what shall 
constitute a prolific layer or a profitable market fowl. 

Any attempt at n, standard is likely to be so much too low for some 



101) THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

and so much too high for others that it would be mainly useful to em- 
phasize its own necessity. The 300-egg hen is the ideal, the 200-egg 
hen is in the middle, the lUO-egg hen appears at the other end under the 
title of "a prolific layer," -a grand layer/* -a good layer,'* or a "poor 
layer,'* according to the point of view or the personal interests of her 
owner. 

Not every "good layer*' will lay market eggs enough in one year to 
pay the reasonable cost other maintenance, and not every adult female 
can be fattened at a cost that will permit a profit. 

This discussion need not involve a comparison of breeds. Under the 
present haphazard methods of distribution of blood there can be little 
uniformity in breeds other than in general Standard requirements. 

Some of the greatest egg records, for instance, have been attained 
from breeds claiming superiority in meat qualities. A great many poor 
layers normally develop in those breeds claiming superior merit as 
layers. 

Those personal interests that provoke and maintain comparisons of 
breeds also prevent the production of uniform tendencies in the breeds. 

THE EXCEPTIONAL HEN. 

The exceptional hen has, from time to time, come in for a good deal 
of notice. When a single individual develops any quality in a remark- 
able degree it is worthy of note. It would however be folly to judge 
of all hens by the behavior of one. It would be unwise or untruthful 
to claim that results that might be obtained by giving one hen, or a few 
liens, special care represent what could be expected from a larger num- 
ber maintained in such a way as to pay a market profit. If we should 
be able to get an average egg yield of 250 eggs each from five exception- 
al pullets, given special care and attention, that would not warrant us 
in claiming that we had a 250-egg strain unless those results were clearly 
due to a fixed family trait that could be traced back along a line of 
ancestors and could, by correct methods, be transmitted to future 
generations. 

The writer owns some exceptional hens, but they have invariably re- 
ceived the same care in every respect as their mates. Xo individual 
birds have ever received special and separate treatment in order to 
encourage their exceptional traits. 

My pens are all adapted for from 30 to Go laying females each and, 
before culling, they often have contained approximately that number. 
Exceptional individuals have developed under the same conditions that 
surrounded their mates and they have always and continually been 
maintained under the same conditions as the others. Different treat- 
ment of different flocks has sometimes been adopted, not witli the idea 
of causing one flock to excel another, but because I have often found 
that different nocks require different treatment. 



TKKATMKNT <>K SICK HENS 101 

Any birds of mine mentioned here or elsewhere have been subjeel t<> 
the conditions mentioned above. 

The Hasty Thinker who regards the exceptionalowner-of-the-excep- 
tionalrhen who carefully nurses thai one hen with n view of making 
capita] out of her performance, as being representative of all owners-of- 
exceptional-hens is uncharitable. 

Various long-distance shots have been aimed at those who record 
their 200-egg hens, by those who lack personal experience in the matter. 
Some imagine that the 200-egg pullet must be early-hatched and receive 
the best of care. This is not necessarily so. June is a good month to 
hatch chickens if they can have plenty of shade. 

I have a flock of exceptional layers that were hatched in June and 
were not taken out of the brooders until November. They were in the 
way the whole summer. 1 had no suitable place to put them in and no 
time to care for them. Some of these pullets began to lay in December 
and nearly all were laying by February. 

The pen contained 40 birds during the winter and is practically the 
same size as one that I recently saw limited to 10 birds in a leading 
poultry paper. 

One of these pullets laid 202 eggs in a little over nine months, another 
150 eggs in six months. I do not like to boast of egg records, but this 
illustrates my point. Good care and proper maintenance are necessary 
for the best results, and I am the last person to underestimate their im- 
portance, but, as a champion of the Persistent Layer 1 wish to show 
that she can and will lay a large number of eggs under unfavorable 
conditions. Favorable conditions would enable her to do much better. 

The frequent references to my hens in this book are made solely for 
illustration. These hens are far inferior in every way to many others, 
I believe. They are not in competition, only with each other. 

TREATMENT OF SICK HENS. 

The best family doctor for the poultry yard I have found to be the 
hatchet. 

A sharp hatchet is a quick, sure and safe remedy for the most serious 
complaints to which fowls are heir. Divide the bird into two parts: the 
head and the rest. Burn the body, or bury it too deep for resurrection. 
This treatment for sick hens has long been recognized by practical 
poultry keepers as being the cheapest and the best : hence I can recom- 
mend it with the greatest assurance. 

Slight colds can be easily treated by giving four drops of Johnson's 
Anodyne Liniment in a teaspoonful of sweet oil to the bird that has the 
cold. Let the dose pass down the bird's throat slowly, or it may choke. 
Repeat until the symptoms disappear. If they do not disappear I de- 
stroy the bird on the principle that a stitch in time saves several. 



102 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

Books have been written and much space used in the poultry press to 
show us how to cure the many diseases of poultry . Those who desire 
to fix up a sick bird to sell to some novice "to improve his flock" can 
get all the pointers he requires by asking for them. I do not believe 
that a bird that has once been seriously sick will ever again be of honest 
value to anyone. Not only our own interests, but the interests of the 
public demand that sick birds be destroyed. 

Their individual value is too small to justify the expenditure of much 
time or money in doctoring them with any honorable end in view. Trap- 
nest evidence that would prove that a female that had been cured ( ?) 
of disease afterward gave a good egg record would be something new 
under the sun. 

Probably no one would knowingly buy a breeding male that had a 
history of sickness behind him. 

The fact that poultry diseases have been studied and treatments ex- 
ploited, indicates conditions in an industry that provides the public with 
a large share of its food that should be, in some greater degree than at 
present, under control of law T . The study of poultry diseases is essential 
in order to learn the cause and best means for prevention, but we are 
told that a bird that has once had the "roup" should never be used in 
the breeding pen and then we are given "a sure cure for the roup." 
Perhaps that is one of the things that we should not know. 

"The great American hatchet" is the best and the cheapest cure for 
"roup" and all the other diseases to which fowls are heir. 

PRACTICE vs. THEORY. 

IN PRACTICE. 

"Those love truth best who to themselves are true, 
And what they dare to dream of, dare to do." 

Practice against theory is a favorite caption with those who, through 
ignorance, prejudice or self-interest desire to assail attempts at progress. 

Many very worthy people are not content with presenting the results 
of their practical efforts for our instruction, but also insist that their 
notions of the fundamental causes that produced the results are correct ; 
although the practical necessities of their work must necessarily and 
effectually prevent them from closely studying specific details, even if 
qualified to do so by nature. As the same results occur with people 
possessing different degrees of imagination and guessing ability a some- 
what mixed symposium results. 

The theoretical writer who endeavors to show to the thoughtful 
reader what he believes to be the correct underlying principles upon 
which reliable knowledge must be reared is likely to be assailed from 
the farm, the practical poultry plant, the little venture of the novice, 
the editorial chair and the kitchen table. Admitting that he is human, 



PRACTICE VS. THEORY I0o 

tliat we may honestly and with good reason differ with some of his 
views, why should we condemn them all? 

The scientific writer has been accused of confusing the novice student, 
of trying to overturn established customs and combat competent and 
trustworthy authorities, lie is charged with trying to im- 
press us with his superior knowledge at the expense of our peace of 
mind and ultimate success. His use of technical terms or groups of 
words that concretely express his real meaning and are incapable of ex- 
pressing anything else meets with cavil from those who would substi- 
tute common-place terms and expressions thai seldom have the same 
meaning with different people who use them or read them, and still 
more seldom express the exact and not-to-be-misunderstood truth. 

Has any "scientist" that has yet appeared succeeded in causing as 
much perplexity in the mind of the poultry student as has been produced 
by the cock-sure opinions of a multitude of "■practical" writers, hardly 
two of whom can agree regarding the every-day commonplaces of practi- 
cal poultry keeping? 

Our own limitations or the necessary limitations of our environment ; 
our indifference, slothf illness, or, worst of all, our prejudices, that 
cause us to read hastily and draw hasty conclusions from slight evidence ; 
our anxiety to present what we think that we know rather than seek to 
learn what others know cannot reasonably be charged up to the list of 
faults with which some so love to endow the scientific investigator. 

When one who, by virtue of his previous work and present position, 
is in actual business competition with any educational poultry effort, 
prostitutes his position by seeking to throw down a real or fancied 
rival, the garb of the demagogue will not conceal the motive. 

The work of any scientist that ever lived contains error. The humble 
may detect it, or it may elude all but superior knowledge. Almost any 
sincere writer's style, or absence of style, may be offensive to some 
readers, but we should not condemn the thought because we do not like 
its delivery. 

The ultra-practical man is in evidence everywhere. He gropes in the 
dark for years for things that lie right at hand. The mechanical arts 
and sciences furnish most prolific illustrations of the absolute inability 
of the average practical mechanic to take the initiative in any step to- 
ward improvement in machines or methods. 

Many of our most valuable inventions in mechanics have been devised 
by men and women who were not mechanics. Furthermore they have 
taught the mechanics, often much against their will, how to use them. 

It is claimed that one of the most valuable improvements in use on all 
of our railroads was first conceived in the mind of a lady passenger w r ho 
did not know the throttle from the steam gauge. The writer once saw 
a locomotive tried that was a radical departure from existing types. 



104 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

It was invented by a man who knew practically nothing - of railroad- 
ing- or mechanics, so the mechanics who did his work claimed. He was 
obliged to watch carefully every detail of construction, for the mechanics 
knew (?) that it would not run. It did run nevertheless and has contin- 
ued to run for several years. 

The originator of the greatest and most practical of our modern 
inventions is said not to be a "practical man** from the mechanic's stand- 
point. He is known in inventive circles as being eminently practical. 

Practical workmen usually lack creative imagination. Their minds 
become accustomed to certain set rules of action and they cannot imagine 
that the accustomed results of their gradually-acquired skill could possibly 
be obtained by better but unfamiliar methods. Sometimes they possess 
too much of that superior form of egotism often miscalled "modesty." 
If , as is commonly the case, the practical man is under the practical 
necessity of applying his whole attention to his regular work in order 
to get present results he has no time to think out new methods or devices 
and exhaustively test them to achieve success only after repeated failure. 

What is true in mechanics is true in every branch of human endeavor. 
We sometimes ridicule the "dreamer"* of to-day in words that are taken 
down and reproduced by the wonderful machines made possible by the 
dreamer of yesterday. We do not stop to think that he who opposes 
the initial effort retards future achievement. 

The novice poultry keeper is in little danger from real or imagined 
"science." If he dreams dreams it will be because nature made him a 
dreamer. His dreams may not cause him to send quite as much money 
to the "kickers" as they would like. 

We can go as far back as history can carry us and we will find Prac- 
tice opposed to Theory; the successful theory becomes practice only to 
oppose new theories, over and over in the line of progress. 

Practice does well to be cautious about accepting theories, and it in- 
variably is. Elementary effort is not practice in the practical sense and 
one of the greatest troubles in the poultry business is that it too often 
tries to be. 

A student of poultry keeping will wonder which "practical" practice 
it is that he should model after ; perhaps to find that correct practice is 
claimed to be that taught by the teacher who does not believe in the 
practice of the other teacher with whom he is more or less, in compe- 
tition. He may later learn that there is much chance for improvement in 
the practices of both. 

The most desired and most elusive end that is sought by all practical 
•■dreamers" is simplicity. When attained it is often laughed at. We 
never had a practical screw driver until recently. It not only puts in 
the screw, almost anywhere, but will pull it out. 

When we first see it we can all say with Edison: "Funny no one 



1'IIK QUESTION OF PROFITS 105 

thought of that before." [t is patented. That end in view, probably 
caused the,inventor to think of it. Thinking of a thing is nol invention. 
The thought is u-eles^ until it is given material form and is made avail- 
able for use. Money and printer's ink make it available. 

The advertiser's money directly or Indirectly originates and maintains 
public interest in nearly everything that tends toward industrial pro- 
gress. It would he useless tor progressive people t<» recommend what 
cannot he found: yet they sometimes do. No useful invention, no im- 
proved method, no educational effort ha- ever been made of public 
benefit except by means of effort and expenditure, the greater part of 
which is often used in overcoming the resistance of the very people 
whom it is designed to benefit. 

That is why most new ventures are conducted for a considerable 
time at a loss. Absolute perfection is rarely attained in advance of 
commercial success. 

The innovator has first to struggle along until the people embrace the 
opportunity to test the new idea and arrive at as good an understanding 
of it as he possesses when lie in turn must learn from the people. All 
too often the people dictate before they investigate. Artificial incuba- 
tion was condemned before we had practical incubators. Methods are 
condemned before they have been adequately tested. We may he urged 
to conduct tots that would cost thousands of dollars with the assurance 
that, if they are successful the idea will he accepted— as a gift. The 
postal card that invites us to give away our property is much in evidence. 
Lt has one fault. It costs a cent. 

Common Practice will always be set against more modern practice, 
calling- it ••theory" as a term of reproach until general familiarity -wears 
off the new." and with it the ••theory." Then philanthropic (?) capital 
buys or steals what it could not create, pays the ••practical" objector 
his price, if he has one. and is promptly introduced as a public bene- 
factor. The history of industry for the last hundred years is replete 
with such precedents. 

CHAPTER XI. 



THE QUESTION OF PROFITS* 

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact 

Than the richest without meaning. Ruskin. 

EVERY business has its own special features that are specifically 
different from the special features of every other business. To 
thoroughly master any business it is important that everything that is 
intimately or remotely connected with it he closely studied. For this 
reason but few men ever master any business. The study of poultry 
and the study of the poultry business therefore, may be conducted 



106 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

separately by different people or they may be conducted separately by 
one person. 

A man may learn the poultry business well enough to make a good 
profit from it and yet know very little about poultry. He has an ex- 
pert knowledge of business, but merely a general knowledge of poultry. 
Knowing how, when, what and where to buy; how, when and where 
to sell, are factors that often lead to a great measure of success where 
an intimate specific knowledge of the goods handled and their produc- 
tion may be lacking. 

I know a large and successful poultry supply house that cannot tell 
me how to run an incubator, how many brooders are needed w T ith one 
machine, how their leading poultry food (manufactured under their 
name) should be fed, how best to install and use trap nests, yet they buy 
and sell all of these things. They understand enough of business to 
conduct theirs successfully yet they know very little regarding many 
things connected with the use of the goods that they handle. 

Many poultry-men successfully breed and sell poultry and produce and 
sell eggs, yet there are many things about both poultry and eggs of which 
they know nothing. The reverse is often true. One may learn a great 
deal about hens, their proper maintenance and their product and yet be 
unable to conduct a poultry business successfully. These distinctions 
are often, perhaps generally lost sight of. AVe go to the successful 
business man for specific information regarding something that he handles 
because, in our ignorance, we assume that he must know all about it. 
He may be the exceptional man and give us reliable information or he 
may know nothing of what we wish to know, and yet not think it 
necessary to admit as much. 

To convert specific knowledge into dollars and cents requires business 
ability and business experience. The rules of business are many and 
varied. General rules that apply to any legitimate business (and many 
that are not legitimate) have to be modified very frequently to meet 
special. conditions and individual peculiarities. 

We may sometimes conclude that ''For ways that are dark and tricks 
that are vain the 'business method* is peculiar.*' — to adapt a familiar 
line. 

It would seem that the golden rule would be a good business maxim, 
but few business men so regard it. "Do unto others what they would 
like to do unto you and do it fust" was the rule of one successful busi- 
ness man in the days of the "Cardiff Giant." That man is dead. The 
rule still lives. 

By far the great majority of people who are in business are conducting 
their business at a loss. Statistics of trade show that this is true, it 
is the exceptional man who succeeds. Success depends mainly upon the 
man himself. It is not always a question of integrity. I fail to see 



TlIK QUESTION <>K PROFITS 107 

any good reason why we should lie to our youth and tell them that in- 
tegrity is esse*ntial to what nearly every one regards as success. When 
the youth thai Ikis been thus deceived wakes up, it may be too late. We 
should teach him to be honest, hut we should not teach him to believe 
that all successful men are honest, for he will then he wholly unarmed 
against the host of successful men who are dishonest. Optimism is 
good, hut it is all too often used as a hoodwink. 

Many men fail, not because they are untruthful, hut because they do 
not know how to lie scientifically. •• Man's inhumanity to man makes 
countless millions mourn." An upright and thoroughly competent 
business man may fail because he will not adopt the tricky practices or 
dishonest methods of competitors who are numerous enough and strong 
enough to dictate the conditions upon which success in that particular 
locality or line shall depend. 

A prominent and wealthy wholesale grocer told his pastor (a friend 
of mine) that he had to lie in his business or go out of business. The 
clergyman told him that he thought he ought to he in jail instead of in 
business on street. 

My clerical friend certainly did not consider the interests of tax pav- 
ers. If all liars were sent to jail who would support them? 

Many of the conditions that control the poultry business are the same 
as those that control other businesses. Many are different. It would 
be difficult to sIioav, for instance, that the market price of eggs depend- 
ed upon the actual cost of producing them. A very large percentage, 
(no man can tell how large,) of our market eggs come from flocks that 
are maintained at a loss. Generally considered the price of eggs de- 
pends upon the supply and demand. The cost of production (often un- 
known) having little bearing. A large part of them come from the 
hundreds of thousands of small flocks scattered over our land, and only 
a small fraction of these flocks are maintained on business principles. 

I have known a difference of eight cents per dozen in the price of 
eggs between two stores in one small town, and the quality cut no 
figure. 

The glowing reports and tin; figures in millions that have their proper 
place in our poultry- and farm-journal sometimes show the great possi- 
bilities of the poultry business; — rarely the probabilities . 

Should this chapter be read by any one who is suffering from a se- 
vere attack of poultry-hysteria I would caution him to go slow. There 
are immense opportunities for losing money in the poultry business. 

It is one of the most simple things in the business to hatch and raise 
chickens. What are you going to do with them after you get them? 
The common ambition to keep 50.0 or lotto hens is one form of mild in- 
sanity. The ambition to learn where to obtain, and how to breed and 
maintain as good hens as possible is a worthy one. 



108 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOR 

The ambition to produce as many eggs as possible at the least expense 
is also worthy. There are flocks of 50 that are now producing more 
eggs daily than other flocks of 200. 1 he man who can breed and main- 
tain a flock of 12 hens that will pay a good profit (assuming that all 
the food was purchased) is warranted in practicing with 50 the next 
year. 

Some who make a profit on flocks of 1000 or more save enough by 
buying their feed by the carload at a favorable time to account for much 
of their profits. That requires capital. If they bought their food as 
the small breeder buys his, some of them would make little or no profit. 
But for every paying flock of 1000 I believe that flocks one half, or less, 
as large that are paying a larger net sum could be found. 

There is perhaps no business that can be studied so closely and at so 
little expense prior to the time of actually embarking in it. With 
poultry a person can begin with a small capital and pay for his experience 
from his other source of income. He should not, and need not attempt 
to get a large profit, or indeed any profit from his experimental flock. 

Thousands of people rush headlong into this business, invest all the 
money that they can get hold of in fancy stock and all kinds of appliances 
and learn a little when it is too late. They all fail in their aims, and 
have no opportunity to learn much about hens. 

The beginning should be small, always. Growth should be gradual 
and depend upon accurate knowledge of what can reasonably be expect- 
ed. As a general proposition the less a man knows about his hens and 
the results obtained from them the smaller will be the amount that he 
will acknowledge to be the cost of maintenance. A man could devote 
his whole life in the attempt to find out how many hens there are in the 
country, their average yield and cost, and he would get no reliable 
totals. The people who own the hens could not give information that 
they do not possess and. unfortunately, those who know are not always 
worthy of credit. 

The census taker asks the farmer how many hens he has and the aver- 
age farmer gives a guessed-at number or purposely underestimates 
through fear of increased taxation. — even when told that his hens will 
not be taxed. 

There can be no douht that there is money in the poultry business 
and that the general and specific instruction given in the best poultry 
papers and books contains the general principles that contribute to 
success. 

The business presents great opportunities to those who have a ca- 
pacity for hard and long continued effort, and are willing to begin small 
and study faithfully, and postpone the necessity for profits until sufficient 
knowledge and skill are obtained to make proflts reasonably certain. 

There is. apparently, a great and ever increasiDg demand for good 
stock. It requires considerable experience and knowledge to be able 



THE QUESTION OF PROFITS L09 

to tell what is "good stock.'* Stock is qoI good, better, or best, merely 
because we own il. or because it appears to be good to our unskilled 
judgment. 

One peculiar feature of this peculiar business is thai experience can 
sometimes sell a bird for several dollar- thai is worth about eight 
cents per pound while inexperience is often obliged to send to market 
really valuable* breeding cockerels; and he often tails to market those 
early enough. 

It is one thing to produce, another thing to sell :it a profit. The ef- 
fect of competition, while healthful in the main, is to block our attempts 
to sell our goods at a profit. The shoemaker will agitate the questiou 
of shorter days and higher wages and then try his besl to beat down 
the price when he buys a pair of shoes. 

It is the same with all products. Complex and unreasonable human 
natures make all problems of profit in business complex and difficult of 
solution. 

The demand for poultry and eggs is, however, greater than the sup- 
ply; hence there is plenty of room and reward for industry, intelligence 
and capital in the business. 

There is an immense difference between the method- of different .suc- 
cessful poultry keepers. 1 have in mind two cases that illustrate the 
point. A — keeps from loon to L500 hens (mongrels) and one farm 
hand cares for them. They are fed cheap feed and every thingaboui the 
plant is cheap, yet a profit has been made for many years. A — is an 
exceptional man. What measure of success he obtains is not due to his 
choice of stock and methods of maintaining it but in spite of them. His 
own personal aptitude for making money is responsible for his profits. 
Being a modest man he thinks, of course, that they are due to his ••prac- 
tical" methods. 

B — keeps 200 or 300 pure-blood birds in nice houses. u>e> the best of 
every thing in feeds and appliances, sells breeding stock and eggs for 
hatching, and makes a good profit. He could not succeed by A— 's 
methods and A— could not succeed by his; yet each will tacitly con- 
demn the other's system and recommend his own. 

The whole matter of success lies in the men themselves and not in 
their peculiar methods or pet theories. 

Sometimes a successful man in explaining the ••secret'* of his success 
will wander into romance and tell a pleasing story that is largely made 
up of the things that he has often dreamed of doing, but rarely has 
done. 

Successful men have their dreams, but they do not let the dreams in- 
terfere with present duties. 

When we arbitrarily dictate to the poultry-beginner, tell him that he 
must do this and must not do that, there is danger of giving him advice 



110 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

that will do more harm than good ; for the personal equation, which is 
the greatest factor of all, is unknown to us and may not be at all adapt- 
ed to our favorite system and theories. Most of us have theories. To 
us they are facts, to others they are delusions. 

If I believed that ten per cent, of those who appear to be successful 
with poultry were as successful as they believe, or are willing that others 
should believe, I migiit look at this a little differently. 

I have obtained a profit from hens when profit was the last thing 
thought of, but there would have been no profit had I adopted the pop- 
ular theories with which I am very familiar. 

A hen will eat a pound of food- in from two to five days according to 
the hen and her productiveness. How much does our feed cost per 
pound? How does it figure out for the year? How many eggs must she 
lay at market prices to pay for the food, interest on investment, and 
our time? Any answer to the latter question must be modified by local 
conditions, but it will probably figure out about double the product of 
the average hen. 

There are three general ways of converting what is generally a losing 
proposition into an occasionally profitable one. 

First: keeping the amount invested in stock and equipment, and the 
cost of maintenance down to the lowest possible figure and marketing 
what product there is as favorably as is consistent with the general plan 
of the business. The welfare of the stock or the interests of the con- 
sumer, "sentiment," do not enter into such a proposition to a sufficient 
extent to occasion any outlay of money. A man with the faculty for 
making money without spending money often succeeds by this method. 
Such a man will sometimes provide his mongrel hens with a rotting pile 
of stable manure, renewed frequently, in which they revel in filth and 
sing- contentedly. He boasts of his mongrel flock, their egg yield, and 
the low cost of maintenance. Much of the grain that the hens get is 
first passed through the other stock, so costs nothing. (?) 

He is welcome to his mongrel hen and her stinking- flesh and eggs. 
I. want none of them. During eighteen years of city life I often found 
it difficult, at times, to get anything else in the line of poultry and eggs. 

Second: investing in a fairly good equipment, fairly good stock, and 
taking fairly good care of the stock ; endeavoring to produce goods of a 
little better quality than the average. For such goods a bright person 
can get a little better price, in time, than the average. He will have to 
work to get it. People want the best, but they are not particularly 
anxious to pay more for it. Sometimes they will call at the door for 
fresh egg-s and complain because we charge "as much as they do at the 
store.'' 

Third: investing every obtainable dollar in such a way as to make it 
earn money. The more dollars the more money. "Them as has, gits. v 

The cost of buildings, equipment, stock, feed, and labor is not con- 
sidered only to the extent that everything shall count toward obtaining 
desired results. The aim is to produce the very best quality of salable 
goods, in the greatest possible quantity for the size of the plant and the 
money expended. The welfare of the stock and all who are concerned 
in its maintenance is considered to be important as a means to an end; 
as are also the interests of consumers who want good quality and will 
pay for it. 



THE QUESTION <>!•' PROFITS 111 

Exceptionally good stock, well fed and well cared tor. will produce a 
profitable yield of eggs, and a quality of meat and eggs that are tit tor 
human consumption; which much of the stuff in every market is not. 

Every poultry paper or magazine that seeks to instruct its subscribers 
in the art of properly breeding and maintaining poultry is a public 
benefactor, and should be universally recognized as such. 

Different methods of keeping hens represent different individual qual- 
ities in poultry keepers: for the man is always father to the method. 
(Jet any method and a man that tits it together and financial success will 
follow. The misfits will fail every time. 

As different men fit different methods so do different hens. The trap 
nest points out those hens that tit the man and his methods. 

Some people buy, at a big price, poultry appliances that cause much 
actual loss, and others that are of no practical use to them: yet other 
people may find those same appliances both useful and profitable. 

To wildly endorse, without good reason, every new idea, or to as 
wildly condemn it are essentially the same thing as far as the novice is 
concerned. One is as likely to mislead him as the other. 

1 believe in cleanliness, comfort, convenience, and all improved 
methods and appliances in so far as any individual can make them of 
profitable or pleasurable use. All such, when they are worthy, should 
be generally recommended without regard to the amount of space that 
their promoters are aide to buy in the advertising columns. 

I am looking for poultry food of good quality, yet the Chemist- Writer 
who examines such foods and writes about them in a poultry paper can- 
not mention a good one by name "for it would be improper." What 
folly! One would think that the man or linn who sells goods was a 
criminal who must be confined to the advertising columns for life and 
only allowed in sight of the public when he pays for tin 1 privelege. 
Then he can rob them < id libitum if he likes. 

We should not expect editors to discriminate between different arti- 
cles that are worthy but when a contributor finds that one firm's meat 
scraps are good he should be free to say so for the benefit of the one 
reader in a thousand that may want to know. 

Let some spiteful individual find fault with some specific article that 
is not advertised "over its head" and he will be accorded a hearing in 
some mediums, benefiting no one and perhaps injuring many. The 
more diplomatic his language the more easily it will pass, and the more 
harm it will do. 

When a man produces a strain of fowls, an individual bird, a food, 
a condition powder, a louse destroyer, an appliance, or conceives an 
idea, that is superior or useful he is in a position to benefit his fellows 
and we should, on general principles, credit him with honest aims until 
we find otherwise. 

It is quite rare that criticism does not diminish in proportion as the 
size of the ad., or the amount of personal favor that the advertiser en- 
joys, increases. 

This is almost universally recognized among our people to such an 
extent that honest endorsements and valuable and instructive "write 
ups" are condemned at sight by a large proportion of readers. 

The average subscriber to a poultry journal may be a child in poultry 
raising but he is not a child in other respects. One journal promises 
us all that we ought to know? What is it that we ought not to know? 
Why should we not know it? 



112 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

There is nothing known about poultry or the poultry business that 
should not be available for every one who wants it and is willing to pay 
for it; he to be the sole judge. It* he is not willing to pay for it he is 
not entitled to it. These opinions are not from the advertiser's stand- 
point, for, as an advertiser the writer has in most cases been treated 
courteously and generously. 

I am writing from the standpoint of a reader who wants to know and 
is obliged to grope in the dark for many things. Not only beginners, 
but experienced poultry keepers all over our land are maintaining hens 
that are not. and never will be profitable in their hands. 

Many of them waste money and time in the effort to push the average 
production of the flock up to a profitable point, overworking the good 
layers and uselessly urging the poor layers to do what they are incapa- 
ble of doing. 

Again and again we are told "cull out the poor layers;" "Keep only 
the profitable hens." 

The query, -'How can I distinguish the profitable hens?" is met with 
equivocal and vague references to "active hens;" "those with red 
combs;" "those that sing and hustle and cackle;" "those with long, 
deep bodies;" and a lot more qualities that are possessed by the major- 
ity of hens any way, whatever their laying ability may be. They al- 
ways avoid the direct claim that all healthy, active hens are profitable 
layers, for we can prove otherwise; yet that is all that is left when 
their generalities are boiled down. 

Where. in any history of human or animal improvement can we find 
any proven precedents upon which to base the almost universal theory 
that great egg production in fowls is mainly a matter of feeding and 
care? 

We find the flock of heavy layers fed by a man who claims that his 
system is the main cause of the results. What are we to do with the 
other man who follows a system that is radically different, yet gets as 
good or better results than the former? With all this we are more or 
less at sea. The man who never got half eggs enough, if sold at mar- 
ket prices, to pay for his feed may stoutly maintain that his hens are 
prolific layers. 

There is a tremendous lack of figures, of carefully kept accounts 
showing results in this business. One man's guess is about as good as 
another's, take all guesses as they run. 

If we breed or buy hens that lay well under our system of feeding, it 
is because they have the inherent ability to lay well; bred into them 
somewhere, sometime, by someone. 

If this is not so, if it is all a matter of feed, then the poultryman with 
his U>00, 2000 or more mongrels is the shrewd poultryman; for in 
many localities his mixed lots of egg^. all sizes, shapes and colors, han- 
dled as he handles them, pay him as well as would a more even lot ob- 
tained by other methods that would not fit him or his conditions. 

Some men claim to make money by buying cheap pullets in January 
or February, feeding them for eggs until they begin to "shed" in 
August or September and then selling them for as much or more than 
they cost. These men never hatch a chick and keep no stock during 
fall and early winter. 

Another way is to buy cheap stock, leave food before them all of the 
time, market those who get fat or sick and sell the eggs that are sure to 
be laid by the others, if the food supply contains anything to make 



THE QUESTION OF PROFITS 113 

them from. If we are to discount progressive methods we can take up 
some <>f these primitive ways of making poultry pay that are practiced 
all over the country, but are not reported in the papers. 

All systems of handling hens are good for those who are adapted to 
the system, if not for the consuming public. 

Some men make a good living buying eggs and poultry as low as 
possible from those who do not produce enough to ship away, sorting 
them and selling at the best obtainable price. The producer keeps the 
hens and pays for the feed, the middleman takes whatever profit there 
is, in many cases. 

If poultry raising as a general proposition pays, where does the great 
demand for " Red Albumen"' and the other more popular nostrums to 
••Make hens lay" come from? Certainly not from those who know 
their hens and get a market profit from them. 

To me the condition appears to be one of generally unprofitable main- 
tenance of stock incapable of profitable production, by people who are 
indifferent or believe in false theories regarding the hen and her 
product. 

The advertising page and the circular take advantage of the condition 
as it is and work the poultry raiser for all he is worth. 

The best poultry papers and magazines appear to be endeavoring, to 
the extent of their light, to improve this condition and teach the truth. 
They should never be denied a favorable mailing rate. for. with all their 
conflicting theories and chaotic mixture of interests they are helping us 
to an understanding of poultry and the poultry business and materially 
assisting the general public, the consumer, to get poultry and eggs that 
are tit for human food. 

A consideration of the poultry press is intimately associated with the 
question of profit and progress with poultry. The individual poultry 
journal reflects the personality — the character and understanding — of 
its promoters and its editorial staff. The poultry press as a whole shows 
clearly to the earnest student the state of the industry. Some of these 
periodicals appear to be founded upon a base of ignorance, personal pre- 
judice and greed, and unprincipled demagogism. 

If the writer's view of the average reader is anywhere near correct 
such papers cannot long endure. The paper that in the slightest degree 
appears to cater to the natural dishonesty and selfishness of what it may 
mistakenly believe to be a large proportion of its readers must in time 
disgust even that class. Whatever our own business practices and 
theories may be we all respect straightforward honesty even though it 
be opposed to our own selfish interests. 

Thoughtful readers of high class periodicals such as The Scientific 
American, The Outlook. Success, The Youth's Companion, and the like 
will, if interested in poultry (and thousands of them are) welcome to 
their homes those poultry journals that combine with a broad understand- 
ing of the industry an honest desire to uplift it "with charity for all and 
malice toward none." 

The combative attitude of ignorance and selfishness toward science, 
invention, investigation, or an endeavor to improve in any direction. 
cannot receive even the tacit sympathy of a journal without such 
sympathy being- clearly reflected in its columns, by omission as well as 
commission. 

It is a mistake to assume that the poultry raisers in our rural com- 
munities, villages and city suburbs are mainly ignorant people. If we 



114 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

are to assume that, we must at the same time grant that poultry raising 
presents no better industrial opportunities for the individual than the 
digging of ditches or the cutting of wood. 

Any literature, industrial or otherwise, that has any valid excuse for 
existing, other than the mere getting of money, should present things 
as they are without regard to what the ignorant or selfish reader imagines 
or desires them to be. 

Not only are the low-grade poultry papers misleading and harmful to 
what few "actual paid in advance subscribers" they may have, but they 
are of little use to the honest advertiser of worthy goods. Either a 
trial with "keyed" ads. or a careful study of their columns for a year or 
two will prove this to be so. 

The contributor whose knowledge of the equities of life is inadequate 
to dominate his or her crude notions of business or hens often finds 
space available in some papers that evidently have little use for a waste 
basket. 

The journal that works harder to get advertisers than subscribers is 
of no particular use to either advertisers or subscribers. The only 
mediums that can assist us to get knowledge, pleasure or profit from 
anything are those that furnish a quality of reading matter that is worth 
reading, even if they have to pay for it, and have a list of patrons that 
read what they have paid to get. 

The comparisons of breeds which we meet are often productive of 
much perplexity and misunderstanding. 

A— has tried a few hens of several breeds and has decided what 

shall be "the best breed." B examines a few hens on his own 

account and gives expert evidence that he has found "the best breed/' 

C is hunting for "the best breed" among several millions of hens, 

no two of which are alike, and as long as he believes that the excessive- 
ly limited observations of A or B would shed the slightest 

ray of light upon the matter he is likely to keep on hunting to the end 
of the chapter. 

All poultry-qualities are not included in the requirements of the 
Standard of Perfection or discernible by the skilled eye of the judge. 

The practice of conflicting systems of breeding pure-blood fowls by 
people with all kinds of ideas and standards of merit, and the distribu- 
tion of this blood all over the land indiscriminately, producing mixture 
upon mixture without guide or reason, should show anyone that there 
can be no uniformity of utility qualities in any breed . considered broad- 
ly as a breed. 

A man's chances of establishing a family of exceptional layers ought 
to be just as good, if not better, with the Asiatics or Americans as with 
the Mediterraneans, if he goes about it in the right way. 

It is probable that there is more Mediterranean blood in the country 
than any other pure-blood, which would of itself be sufficient to account 
for any popular theory of supremacy in laying qualities that may obtain, 
even if no logical reason for the theory existed. 

Some breeds possess qualities as breeds that adapt them to conditions 
that would not be as favorable to other breeds. The same appears to 
be true of families or "strains" within breeds. 

The glowing tributes to this, that, or the other breed of fowls that 
we commonly encounter are excessively general in character. "They 
are splendid layers." How much of a layer must a hen be to be a 
"splendid" layer? Thirty-six i'^ per spring-time-hatching-season, 



SOMETHING AJBOUT PATENTS 115 

at two dollars per setting, or fifteen dozen per annum at an average of 
twenv-rive cents per dozen? 

The words "splendid," "g I," "great," "fine,'] "better," "best" 

etc. are capable of many specific meanings according to our point of 
view. The student should not be misled by the glittering optimism of 
the poultry journals and show rooms. It is all right enough as a vein 
for self-interested enthusiasm, but disappears in vapor under close 
examination. 

The compounding of "scientific" rations, the devising of new and 
improved poultry houses and fixtures, the natural beauty of pure-bred 
fowls, the cheerful rivalry and the incentives to effort produced by the 
poultry Shows, and a natural love for animals, all contribute to awaken 
and maintain an interest in poultry. When the interest is sufficiently 
supported by hard work, money and ability, progress is sure to be 
made whatever the aim— even to the extent of profit— but the success 
is due to an intelligent working interest in good stock. It is not neces- 
sarily due to the particular ration employed or the expensive or 
unnecessary equipment or methods. 

It is perfectly possible to get a good vgg yield while paying more for 
the eo-i»> than they are worth. This fact is recognized by those who 
sincerely believe that trap nests cannot be profitably used by the aver- 
age poultry raiser. I believe that they understand the average poultry 
raiser better than they do the practical trap nest, its proper use and 
possibilities. I have saved time and money enough many times over 
by avoiding unnecessary but commonly-employed and -recommened 
methods and expenditures to offset the keeping of my individual records. 
The attention of the nests has not yet appeared to me a very arduous 
undertaking and I shall be unable' to reckon that factor at all until I 
learn of some reason why 1 should. 

A few drones sent to market, that would be retained were it not for 
the nests, pays for the nests. If they are kepi instead of being sold it 
is no fault of the nests. 

When the user becomes skillful in recognizing the persistent-laying 
habit and the different individual tendencies of his birds, and abandons 
whatever previous theories he may have had that blind his eyes to plain 
facts he will be able to cull wisely and often, retaining the cream of hi- 
llock while marketing the others. 

No man can dispute the logic of getting rid of every bird that cannot 
be profitably retained, just as soon as its unprofitableness is determined 
or its self-limited profitableness has ceased, and retaining every bird as 
long as it is profitable to do so. be it six months or rive years. 

Trap-nest experien e will enable the poultry keeper to do just that 
and help to solve the question of profits. 

CHAPTER XII. 



SOMETHING ABOUT PATENTS, 

The golden rule of invention: Find out what has been done, 
keep track of what is being done, learn what needs to be 
done, and then do it. 

THE United States has advanced materially beyond all other 
countries because it has welcomed invention, encouraged and 
protected inventors by the best patent system on earth, and hailed as a 



116 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

public boon every new and better way of doing an old thing. 

Perhaps I can best describe to the reader what our patent system is 
designed to be by first explaining what an inventor is. Any person is 
an inventor who devises a new thing or finds a new use for an old thing. 
If this new thing or the new use for an old thing is useful— of utility 
and value to others — they ought to have the use of it, and derive the 
benefits to be obtained from its use. 

Here is where the patent system comes in. The Government employs 
trained experts to determine if inventions submitted to them are new 
and useful. These experts being human beings like the rest of us are 
not infallible, but they know quite a good deal about their business. 
What they don't know your lawyer, or my lawyer, or someone else's 
lawyer tells them, — sometimes, when it becomes necessary. It is not 
for yoji or I to tell them their business or question their decisions unless 
we have a personal interest in the matter and know more about it than 
they do — quite possible. 

When the patent office experts have searched all of the records and 
rind that what the inventor claims to be original with him has never 
before been described, either in this or any other country, and there is 
no evidence of its being known to the public for more than two years 
prior to the application, and it appears to be of public utility, they 
grant that the invention is the property of the man who invented it and, 
being his property, he shall have exclusive control of it for a term of 
seventeen years. After that it becomes the property of the public ; for 
it is presumed that the inventor, or someone who has purchased his 
patent rights has succeeded in getting it into use and has obtained his 
reward. 

In this way our patent system accomplishes two things. It grants 
the right of the inventor to own and control his own property so that 
by selling it in whole or in part, or by letting it out for rent in whole 
or in part he can stand some chance of getting paid for his labor arid 
also be able to make his invention of use to others. The inventor or 
his assigns are obliged to advertise the invention, or the goods that are 
made with the invention, or the benefits that the people can obtain from 
the invention, in order to get his pay. That lets the people know 
about the new thing and they can purchase that which is designed to 
be of use to them. 

Some people do not like the patent system for the reason that they 
are selfish and do not believe in justice. Justice does not ask us what 
we want, but seeks to give all of us what belongs to us, and protect us 
in its posession. 

Justice is well represented as being blindfolded. That is why she 
sometimes fails to connect with the right owner. 

It is a popular delusion that we can rightfully make a patented device 
for our use without asking anyone or paying anything for it. 

Shyster lawyers sometimes foster such a notion in the hope that they 
may get a chance to defend the infringer in a suit at law. He gets his 
pay, win or loose. No one can legally make or use any kind of a pat- 
ented invention except by means provided and controlled by law and 
the owner of the patent. 

The patent system, directly and indirectly, has done more to promote 
our progress in every direction than all other causes combined. 

Agriculture has been benefited wonderfully as a result of our patent 
laws. Dishonest schemers have made popular ignorance and popular 



SOMKTIIINO ABOUT PATENTS 117 

greed and selfishness a means of perpetrating fraud under the g'uise of 
patents. Inventors who have been granted patents for inventions are 
quite frequently as ignorant of patent law as are the people. 

If we question a man who has become rich out of some patent he may 
swell up and tell ns that he knows all about patents when he knows 
very little about them. He may have become rich by owning a patent 
or by stealing one. 

Some look with disfavor upon patent ownership because they think 
that were it not for that they could receive the benefits from the patent 
without paying for them . We have a good chance right here in this 
book to examine that idea. A few years ago there did not exist on the 
face of the earth such a thing as the trap nest described herein. 

It is a case of a "new thing under the sun," unless proven, in the 
courts provided for the purpose, to be an old one. 

Now how would the reader have ever heard of it if I had not spent 
my good money to advertise it? Why should I do that if not to make 
something so that I can advertise it some more, and make it of use to a 
lot more people? 

Sometimes people say, "Well, I will make it a little different that will 
be all right." Now that has no bearing whatever. We cannot tell by 
looking at a patented thing what the inventor's rights in it are based 
upon . 

Another thing that is not commonly understood is the matter of im- 
provements on patented things. 

A change in the appearance, the form or the working of a thing does 
not constitute improvement unless the change creates greater efficiency 
or utility in some direction favorable to the public. It must be in fact 
an improvement that expert opinion will recognize as such. An im- 
provement even if a patent is obtained for it does not grant the right to 
use any previously patented feature of the device. For this reason it 
is the rule to either sell such an improvement to the owner of the patented 
device or purchase from him the right to use his part of the improved 
thing. 

He can grant such use or not, as he likes. Those who would 
dabble in invention with a view to the obtaining of a patent or avoid- 
ing infringement upon the rights of others should consult a regular patent 
lawyer of good repute. 

That reminds me of a story. It is said that an old lawyer by the 
name of John Strange was about to die. He was consulted in regard 
. to his epitaph. He requested that the stone be incribed "Here lies an 
honest lawyer." Asked if that was all he replied "That is enough.'' 
"Why! your name must be added," his wife said. •"No" he replied, 
"when they read that they will say: 'Here lies an honest lawyer, 
that is Strange !' " Now I don't know if the point is in the "honest 
lawyer" or in the idea that a lawyer could lie in death as well as in life. 
The reader can judge. 

The Patent Office publishes a Gazette that i41ustrates all patents and 
gives the claims upon which the rights of the inventor are based. This 
Gazette is published for the benefit of the public and shows them what 
thev cannot make or use except by consent of the owner. The inter- 
pretation of patent claims is work for which patent lawyers and experts 
only are qualified. The description of the patent and its illustrations 
describe the invention so clearly that, at the expiration of the time 
limit of the patent, those who are skilled in the art to which it applies 



118 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOlv 

can make it. When a picture of a patented device is published with 
the statement that it is patented intentionally omitted we are justified in 
concluding that contributory infringement is intended . Innocent people 
might infringe the patent not knowing that it belonged to another. 
There is no reason for the air of mystery that the people themselves 
have hedged about the subject of patents, except the reason that so 
many prefer to guess about things than make a little effort to get the 
facts. Every citizen should be interested in our patent system. It not 
only confers great benefits upon all of us. but any person has a chance 
to benefit himself and the people by devising some new and useful 
thing and getting it patented. 

SOME AMERICANS HAVE NOT DISCOVERED IT YET. 

Scientific American says that some three years ago the Japanese govern- 
ment sent to this country a certain Mr. Takahashi to study our patent 
system. Mr. Takahashi pays a glowing tribute to the American system. 
"We saw the United States not much more than one hundred years old," 
he said, "and we asked, 'what is it that makes the United States such a 
great nation?' We investigated, and found it was patents, and so we will 
have patents." 

CONCLUSION* 

Let all the considerate people have their way and see how they will 
come out. Catlyle. 

"When a man is always striving just to please others he lacks the 
moral courage to do right." 

It is a difficult matter to draw this text book to a close, there is so 
much that remains to be said in the interest of the persistent layer and 
her owner. 

It was not without due consideration that I have introduced exam- 
ples of good results that many people will find it impossible to believe 
if they chance to read them . Poultry keepers of the old school have 
persisted in the declaration that hens would lay well without the ex- 
cessively careful methods of feeding and care that are generally advocated 
in our poultry literature. Many of them absolutely refuse to read such 
literature, because they find so much that they know is not true; this 
added to what they imagine is not true causes them to discredit the 
whole thing. 

It has suited my purpose to look into the matter somewhat with a view 
to finding out at least a part of the exact truth. The facts are, as nearly 
as I can yet determine, that the persistent layer will lay a great many 
eggs under apparently unfavorable conditions. She is likely to be found 
almost anywhere. It does not appear to be a question of breed. 

The skeptical farmer probably does not always possess such good 
hens, or get as many eggs, or as much profit, as he sometimes tries to 
make us believe. He is often a cheerful guesser, and is skilled in the 
art of verbal self-defense . 

The poultry writers whom he discredits with good reason exaggerate 
the value of their favorite breeds, foods, and practices, in connection 
with good laying and profits from good layers. 

The truth seems to lie between these two extremes. The flock that 
contains a considerable number of vigorous, healthy hens that possess a 
strong egg-producing tendency is likely to lay profitably, from a market- 



CONCLUSION 119 

egg standpoint, under conditions that to many people would seem to be 
very unfavorable. 

The flock of common-place layers, — hens whose egg producing ten- 
dencies arc no stronger than other tendencies that interrupt or interfere 
with egg production may be coaxed to lay — by careful housing, feeding 
and care well enough to pay a good profit when a considerable pari 
of the eggs are sold for hatching, and stock is sold for breeding. 

When the flock of exceptionally strong layers can be given exception- 
ally good care there may be an exceptionally large egg yield. The 
profits would, as in all other cases, depend upon the factors outlined 
under the heading "The Question of Profits" in this book. 

Such books as "Poultry Craft," "Winter Eggs and How to 
Get Them," ".All About Broilers.'" and some others, treat of tech- 
nical work with poultry from the standpoint of practical workers. These' 
books do not contain all that there is to know about poultry maintenance 
or breeding; for the reason that no one individual or combination of 
individuals have yet learned all that there is to know about poultry. 

The authorship of the books that I have mentioned is an absolute 
guarantee that they contain valuable and practical information. 

Our poultry papers and magazines periodically bring to the reader 
both old and new facts, old and new theories, current poultry news and 
gossip, and a general symposium of the good, bad and indifferent 
methods and ideas of a large number of writers, and an occasional 
mimic. 

Some of these writers are similar to the politicians whom Thomas B. 
Reed described in the mot: "Every time they open their mouths they 
subtract from the sum of human knowledge." 

AVe are, of course, all aware of the truth contained in the statement 
of Bulwer: "He that fancies himself very enlightened, because he sees 
the deficiencies of. 
studied his own." 

The poultry keeper who is searching for truth will be sorely perplexed 
by the mixture of conflicting testimony that will confront him which- 
ever way he turns. He should not be deceived by the personality of 
the writer or speaker. Some of the most harmful and serious errors 
being promulgated to-day are fostered by people who have some handle 
or other to their name, or a skill in the use of language and the further- 
ance of their own personal interests that gives them the appearance of 
wisdom and sincerity. 

Some of the strongest poultry-facts are presented in our periodicals by 
people of humble station whose work is rude but helpful. 

On the other hand those people, high or low. who are ignorant of the 
moral ethics of business and life, or for personal reasons choose to ignore 
them, are continually fostering wrong ideas in the minds of the people. 

The person who needs or wants anything about which he has no 
special knowledge is between the devil who want- his money and the 
deep sea of going without what he needs or wants. He should be will- 
ing to buy what he wants. He should not expect his favorite paper or 
magazine to furnish it at the expense of those who are. or may be, able 
to supply him through a regular commercial transaction. The journal 
already gives the subscriber much more than he, or it. pays for. What 
he desires generally exists and can be easily obtained at a price that in- 
formed people know to be a just price, — but where? 

He does not know, and those who do know generally will not, and 



120 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

very often feel that they should not tell him. If they do tell him, their 
sincerity and disinterestedness may be doubted. 

Germany has a law that forbids an advertiser lying or appearing to 
lie in his advertising. The exact truth may be barred unless it be self- 
evident, "The best in the world,-' even if true, as it quite frequently 
must be, will not pass the censor. 

Some enterprising American Manufacturers are said to have been un- 
able to circulate their expensive and convincing literature in Germany 
for that reason. We have no such law here. This is a free country. [ 
have before me the literature advertising two brooders. One I know 
to be a good one, the other has not a single feature that would recom- 
mend it to any person who knew any thing about brooders. It is an 
expensive, worthless contraption, from my point of view, yet its claims, 
advertising and illustrations are the most pleasing of the two — to in- 
experience . 

There is a great difference in the character of the testimonials, how- 
ever. 

Most people are sufficiently doubtful. Too much so as a rule. . In 
talking with people about commercial products in general I find a com- 
mon tendency to doubt about everything that is true and useful — and 
costs something. The love of money appears to be the root of much 
ignorance as well as evil. 

On the other hand many will swallow the most absurd proposition, 
bait, hook, line and bob, and gleefully pay the price. The fact that 
such a large part of our population is of this class accounts for the very 
condition of things that I am describing. They apparently have no 
use for honest business men or methods. 

In all comparisons of appliances, breeds, foods or whatnot, the poultry 
keeper is up against this condition and he should know it at the start. 

The only thing for him to do is to think, reason, and learn as much 
as possible from the disinterested opinions of others, if he can find such. 
The man who has his own bigotry, prejudices, or past opinions to sus- 
tain is not a disinterested adviser. 

There are a great many honest men selling goods. There are a thousand 
dishonest men among buyers to one among sellers. Twenty-five years 
of intimate observation of a mail-order business that dealt with people 
in various parts of the world has given me some idea of human nature. 
The poultry keeper who advertises stock or eggs lias got to beware of 
the crafty buyer. A large per cent, of the dissatisfied customers of 
mail-order business men are those who tried to cheat the seller and 
failed . 

We run more risk when sending goods to strangers in advance of 
payment than we do when paying for goods before we get them, yet 
many very good people don't seem to realize it. 

The idea that the poultry business is a short and easy road to wealth 
is not quite as common as it used to be, yet the old pipe dreams are 
sometimes resurrected and the victim's money distributed around. 

Colonel Seller's argument that there must be " millions in it," because 
every one h;is sore eyes and would buy a bottle of his eye wash at $1.00 
per. is not valid in the poultry business. Every one does not want 
fancy poultry or fancy e^ ( j:^. and all of those who do will not buy ours. 
even if a fortune spent in advertising happens to attract their attention. 

Some people assume that the majority of poultry keepers are simple- 



CONCLUSION 121 

minded people who could not understand the truth even if it came to 
them through the mail. 

The majority of poultry keepers who arc looking for instruction are 
bright, intelligent people and have wit enough and education enough 
•o understand anything that seriously interests them, if it be presented 
fairly without circumlocution and evasion. There is nothing any more 
mysterious about a hen and her performance than there is about an- 
other members of the animal kingdom and their functions. The air 
of mystery has been maintained because it paid, and because the hen 
has not been generally studied as an individual. 

We cannot keep poultry or engage in anv business or pursuit in- 
telligently unless we start right. Our thinking and our work must be 
founded upon the bed rock of fact, not the shifting sands of superstition, 
popular misinformation and commercial humbug. 

Any degree of merit in our fowls begins with the ego-. Just as 
worthless a chick (to us) can emanate from a fifty-cent egg as from a 
one-cent egg. Yet it pays to get high priced eggs when we know just 
what we want, and have reason to believe that -our, chances for getting 
some of it are contained in those particular eggs. If the mysterious 
principle that determines future excellence in any direction is not 
present in the vitalized germ of the egg that is to produce the chick no 
method of feeding or care ever devised will cause the resultant life to 
be of genuine value. No matter how good the breeding may be it will 
all come to naught unless the chick is enabled to grow and develop 
sufficiently well to prove its breeding. 

At this point we rind one of the greatest bugaboos of the whole busi- 
ness. Being bred right the chick must be hatched right and provided 
with suitable food and care. All of these factors combined determine 
the extent of future excellence ; no single one can be credited with all 
of the success and not always with failure. Yet how common it is to 
select a single element upon which to bestow the whole credit or blame, 
as the case may come out. Usually that which we purchased is con- 
demned when results are bad, and that which we ourselves provide is 
held blameless. 

To my way of looking at things many much-recommended methods of 
poultry maintenance have evolved from a general attempt to get good 
results from ill-begotten, or poorly-hatched or -grown stock. & Too 
many hens give grand results in egg production under conditions that 
many suppose to be wholly bad, for this point to be ignored. While it 
is apparently true-that egg production is often controlled by agencies 
that are not yet fully understood, it also seems to be true that a hen 
with a bred-in-the-bone egg producing tendency will give a more profit- 
able egg yield under ordinary conditions of maintenance than the ordinary 
layer can possibly do under the most approved scientific methods. 

What are we to say of the pullets hatched in June and not removed 
from their out-door brooders until November; crowded, always in the 
way. forty of them wintered in a shed 11x12 and roosting room 11x6, 
some of them laying over 200 eggs each before they were eighteen 
months old? We know that this is a bad and a riskv wav to raise 
chickens, but we also know that these chicks were well hatched from 
''^ s lai d by healthy, vigorous hens with a known, individual, persistent- 
laying habit, at a time favorable for strong prepotent fertility. That is 



122 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

the greater half of the battle. These hens were no better than hundreds 
of thousands of hens: not nearly as good as many, probably. Why 
should they be? All the good layers that use trap nests and prove 
their worth to their owner are called •* exceptional hens."' It is far more 
reasonable to infer that those owners who know which are their best 
layers and breed from them are exceptional poultry keepers. 

Good methods of maintenance should follow good breeding, but they 
can never, only to a a limited degree, offset bad breeding. We will 
never get good results from hens that are inherently unable to give good 
results . Suitable methods of feeding and care enable our hens to respond 
to their own individual egg-producing inclinations ; they do not make 
them lay. 

The feeding and housing of poultry, or their general maintenance, can 
never by any possibility appear in the same light to large numbers of 
breeders. Xo one set rule in these matters would work the same with 
different flocks. It is, therefore, impossible that any one method of 
feeding and care, however good it may be, can ever obtain a sufficiently 
general adoption to greatly benefit the industry. Good breeding proves 
itself under many widely differing systems of maintenance ; but rational 
systems of maintenance rarely, if ever, prove anything but the 
breeding. 

Certain methods of breeding practiced along the same general lines — 
not specifically the same, — by many breeders having practically the 
same aims have established the general Standard qualities of our leading- 
breeds and improved them to a degree that probably w T as not dreamed 
of two generations ago. There is no evidence that such a course has 
ever been pursued with the utility qualities kept to the front. 

Observation has been the only means generally employed for selection, 
and observation is powerless to discover and keep track of the best 
layers, except with a few fowls given a great deal of attention. 

Large numbers of birds are of great advantage to any breeder who 
has room and time for them, as they give him a large field for selection. 
This is so true that expert selection for the show room often wins the 
ribbons away from the expert breeding that actually produces superior 
average merit. This principle is as true with utility as with fancy 
points. 

There i> no available evidence that proves that the average pure-blood 
hen lays any better than the average mongrel under similar conditions. 
Our not wanting this to be true will not change the present facts in 
the matter, A comparison of pure- and mongrel-blood sufficient to dis- 
prove this would also require proof that the specimens tested fairly 
represented the average of each class. Uniformity of performance can 
never be obtained and maintained with impure blood: if it has yet been 
reached with pure blood the cases are probably rare. It can only be 
determined by the individual record. 

It would seem from the gen,.,-,] view that there is plenty of room for 
improvement in the utility qualities of any of our popular breeds with- 
out permanently sacrificing any rational Standard qualities. 

Those who will start with the best Standard blood that they can get, 
cull closely, with utility always to the fore, ruthlessly discarding heavy 
laying on high -coring specimens when they are unsuitable for the 
breeding pen, never inbreeding closer than is consistent with constitu- 
tional vigor, and n< r< ,■ i ntrod nrin (/ new blood index* it is kflOWIl to br 

ni harmony icUh the end in view, — those who will pursue such a course 



COKCLUSIOlS 123 

with the lively, intelligent interest and persistence that has characterized 
the work of thousands of fanciers who aimed at the blue ribbons will 
do what tew have yet done and should achieve what has seldom been 
achieved. When improvement is once started along' lines that become 
generally recognized as correct it expands and grows with ever increas- 
ing rapiditv through the distribution of improved blood throughout the 
land. 

There are many fanciers and many farmers who actually do not know 
what a good egg yield is; and. furthermore, many of them do not care. 
Of all poultry breeders the fancier should possess the highest standard of 
egg production, for the established Standard-bred bird presents the 
surest and the shortest route to prolificacy. 



Early in the game 1 became convinced that the practice of keeping 
hens in small flocks, devoting more time and money in caring for them 
than they were possibly worth, in order to force or coax them to the 
limit of their capacity for egg production solely to get 200-egg hens to 
to use in the breeding pen. was a great mistake, it is theoretically and 
practically wrong. 

If a bird is able to lay 200 eggs in one year that should suffice without 
using force to compel her or coddling to coax her to prove it to the 
limit of her vitality. It is often far more wise to hold her back. 

When the experts rose up and declared that we could not tell if the 
hen was able until she did it they unwittingly exposed the utter fallacy 
of the observation theory upon which the whole matter has rested from 
time immemorial. 

Large flocks of cheap hens have laid profitably within range of my 
observation for many years. Similar flocks no doubt exist all over the 
land. Their owners neither read, nor contribute to the poultry press. 
These are not the exceptional flocks. The flocks that we read about 
are the ones that are exceptional', for the reason that written-up flocks, 
good or bad, are a small part of the whole number of flocks that exist. 

The 200-egg hen as an individual can be no new thing. She has been 
here all the time. She wears the patchwork coat of the mongrel and 
the fine raiment of the prize-winner. Fine clothes do not make the man nor 
fine feathers the hen. yet both contribute to an appearance of merit. 

The discovery of the 200-egg -hen is what is new to an ever increasing 
number of poultry keepers. Like political capital they are being pro- 
duced unknowingly all of the time by already established factors. 

The reason that the average production with well-cared-foi* flocks is 
commonly so low is that so many poor layers and ordinary layers are re- 
tained in service. 

Suppose we have several pens of fowls of twelve females each. One 
pen averages 150 ^\n\i> per hen in nine months. If we have individual 
records of all of the females in all the pens, and select from the records of 
the whole lot the twelve heaviest layers, and quote an average of 225 
eggs each we would be criticised because the twelve birds were not all 
in one pen. But what sense would there be in such a criticism? One 
hen or any number of hens are entitled to credit for what they do 
individually. If they do good work handicapped by unworthy associates 
and unfavorable conditions their value is emphasized and they should 



124 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOlv 

be more entitled to credit. We are obliged to treat a flock as a 
unit in many respects, but the flock is not a unit. It is a number of in- 
dividuals differing from each other in specific merit. No man denies 
that one flock of hens will average a great many more eggs than another 
flock of equal size and maintained equally as well. This of itself, with 
no other evidence, shows that the same differences in performance may 
exist between individuals in the same flock. 

What this reasoning suggests the individual record proves, thus es- 
tablishing the fact beyond question . 



One condition that makes it so difficult for the poultry student to get 
exact information is due to a peculiarity of the American people. We 
are great experimenters. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is an original 
genms— in his own mind. We read, study, think and experiment 
superficially; or deliberately copy from someone else, thinking that the 
country is so large it will never be found out. This is a big country 
geographically, but electricity and steam bring us pretty close together 
after all. 

Our markets are glutted with incomplete inventions and compounds ; 
our patent office shelves are groaning under a load of experimental 
folly; our people make experiments and draw conclusions therefrom 
when the nature of the experiment precludes any possibility of its prov- 
ing anything but its own weakness. 

Some of our writers in all kinds of literature are continually discover- 
ing something new to them, but obsolete to the informed, and burst out 
with a lot of old misinformation dressed in new garments. 

The history of the trap-nest idea is replete with illustrations of this 
practice. 

The advertising and press notices of the pioneer promoter of a record 
nest stimulated imitation, investigation, theft, and honest invention, 
just the same as do all successes, or apparent successes. 

The crudest nest trap is a wonderful thing to the enthusiastic poultry 
keeper who tries it for the first time, and a very impracticable thing to 
experience. So those first crude traps and their later imitations, now 
obsolete as far as practical trap-nest work is concerned, are still pro- 
ducing misinformation regarding the trap-nest idea that varies in 
character according to the point of view of the observer. 

One prominent writer wrote a very wise criticism of trap nests in 
general. He had never had the opportunity to see or use a practical 
trap-nest equipment, and he had never seen any one who had. Thus 
it is that premature wisdom makes itself utterly absurd at times. 
People are likely to endorse or condemn what does not exist if they 
mimic all they read or hear, 



CONCLUSION 125 

A few letters <>r conversations reporting smoke have caused some 
people to imagine that the world was on tire and they have sought to 
quell the conflagration with printer's ink. 

Those who desire to post themselves regarding the actual trap-nest 
situation will have to spend more time and money in research than 
most of the critics have yet shown evidence of having done. One of 
our very best and most practical poultry editors has had an especially 
favorable opportunity to judge of the working of some unpractical 
trap-nest equipments ami methods, and his very moderate and con- 
servative opinions regarding the general adoption of the trap-nest idea 
are well justified from his point of view. 

Those who have the legitimate interests of any industry at heart should 
consider that the prospect of commercial success is generally the in- 
centive that leads to improvement in any direction. 

The more successful the undertaking becomes, financially considered, 
the more wide spread will be the benefits, and the more rapid will be 
the progress made. 

The attitude of the industrial press toward inventions, the patent 
system, and the interests of honorable commercial effort — present or 
possible — in general, gives a good forecast of the probabilities of 
success for any proposed improvement. 

Commercial failure never proves lack of merit, even when it clearly 
accompanies it. r l he right thing must be advanced at the right time in 
the right way in order to be successful. 

New things do not flash upon the world in a full burst of success at 
once. They are opposed by all sorts of conditions, most of which are 
wholly out of the view or possible knowledge of any but those most in- 
timately interested. 

In estimating the relation of the individual system to time and 
money we should study each element of the system separately and 
understandingly. If an insufficient number of nests are installed the 
necessity for very frequent attention is an indication that more nests 
should be put in. If the nests are so designed that it takes considerable 
time to remove a hen and prepare the trap for another it shows a specific 
defect that should not be charged to the fundamental trap-nest idea. If 
the system of keeping the records is clumsy and takes too much time a 
more simple and practical plan should be sought. 

If at first we are slow in handling the hens and the nests and recording 
the data we should consider that practice will enable us to work much 
faster in time. 

Tf by keeping individual records and basing our practice upon the 
information so obtained we increase our r^<y supply and dimmish the 
number of unprofitable hens we should consider that the time and 
money commonly spent in hatching, rearing, housing, feeding and 



126 THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 

caring for unprofitable hens has been saved to the credit of our trap 
nests and records. If we will carefully note the condition of our hens 
as we handle them during the day when taken from the nests, we should 
consider that we are thus saved the necessity of looking- them over at 
night after they have gone to roost : a time-consuming operation that is 
universally practised by careful poultrymen under the ordinary system. 
The question is not how much time will it take to care for a certain 
number of hens under this system, but how can we best apply our time 
so as to get the best results. If 200 hens will lay 30,-000 eggs in one 
year it hardly seems reasonable that we can save time and money by 
housing, feeding and caring for 300 hens in order to get the same 
number of eggs. 

We should consider that it is very difficult to get any reliable basis 
for judgment by comparing the methods and results obtained by different 
operators. The man rather than the method may be the determining 
factor. 

No man can justly compare the individual system with the common 
system of breeding and maintaining poultry until he become familiar 
with both systems. 

A practical trap-nest system given thorough and adequate trial is 
essentia] in order to obtain evidence of the comparative merits of the 
new and the old. The trap nest does not provide an easy way to keep 
hens for profit. Neither does anything else. There is no easy way. 
Successful poultry keeping under any system requires hard work and 
a careful attention to details. Trap nests are not essential to success. 
They contribute to success by making available information that can be 
obtained in no other way with large flocks, and not without more time- 
consuming labor with small flocks than would be necessary with them. 

I shall be glad to hear from any reader at any time in the interest of 
the persistent layer and her owner. 

If a reply is desired a self-addressed and stamped envelope should 
be inclosed unless the matter directly concerns the Ideal Nest or 
specialties. 

I have no means of knowing how many practical nests exist, but I 
do know that a very few that are good are, or have been, to some extent 
commercially available. It is hoped that this text book will be found 
useful with any, should they be preferred to the Ideal. 

The End. 

"Genius is two per cent, inspiration and ninety-eight per cent, 
perspiration." Thomas A. Edison. 



THE OPTIMIST, SPRING 12" 



THE OPTIMIST, SPRING. 

A young man returned home from a voyage about February 1. and 
began to brace up his father's nock of hens. They had been neglected 
all winter and had not laid an egg. 

The son cleaned up the pen. put in scratching material, fed vegetables, 
meat and mash, and along toward the last of the month the hens were 
laying well. Boasting- of his success with --the old man's hens" to an 
old poultry keeper he was met with the cheerful statement: "Yes! good 
care is all right, but if I had hens that wouldn't lay now, anyway. I 
would cut their blamed heads off."' 

Blessed spring-time. How it aids us to cherish our little conceits, 
shows how indispensible our favorite methods are. proves the worth of 
certain rations and substantiates the claims of the condition powder or 
--egg food," and allows us at last to truthfully claim that our hens are 
"good layers." 

With happy memories of spring- kept fresh in our minds, how easy 
it is to ignore -the other nine months in the year. All hail to the 
Optimist. Spring. 



128 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

TABLE OF CONTENTS* 



CHAPTER I. 

Instructions for Making and Using The Ideal Trap Nest 

The Ideal Trap Nest 

Ventilation 

To Make the Attachment 

To put on the Attachment 

To Operate 

CHAPTER II. 
First Experiences ...... 

Number of Nests Required . . 

The Location of the Nests in the Poultry House 

The Best Location . . . ... 

Eggs Laid Outside the Nests .... 

CHAPTER III. 
The Best Style of Nest to Use 
One or Two Compartments; Which: 
The Care of the Nests 
Collecting Eggs 
Record Keeping 
Using the Nests Open 
Brief Pointers 

CHAPTER IV. 
Trap Nests vs. Observation . . . 

Culling for profit . . . . 

CHAPTER V. 
Controlling the Brooding Habit .... 

Breaking Broody Hens ...... 

Is Broodiness Opposed to Profitable Egg Production ? 
Can a Hen Lay Two Eggs in one Day? 



PAGE 

12-40 
. 12 

• 14 
.. 14 

• 15 

• 17 



18 

19 
21 
22 

24 

28 
30 
3i 
32 
35 
38 
39 



4i 

44 



53 
55 
57 
59 



CHAPTER VI. 

Fertility . 62 

How Soon after Mating will Fertility become Established, and How 
Long will Fertility Continue after Mating has Ceased? The 
Question Answered .......... 65 

Causes of Failure with Incubators . . . . . . . .66 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Brown Egg. Origin of the Brown Egg Fad . . . -67 

What the Trap Nest Says 68 

Size of the Egg 7° 

Explanation of the Terms "Litter" and "Clutch" . . . . 7 1 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Is it Advisable or Necessary to Force Egg Production 
Forcing Hens for Egg Production 

Egg Production during Molt 

The "Rooster" and the Trap Nest .... 
Egg-eating Hens ....... 

CHAPTER IX. 

Nature's Secret Revealed to the Breeder 
Single vs. Multiple Mating 
The Fallacy of the So-called Law of Sex 
The Fallacy of the "Egg-type" theory 
Individual Merit from the Standpoint of a Bu 
A Prophecy 

CHAPTER X. 

The Unreliability of the Common Method of Reckoning Average 

Illustrated 
Foods and Feeding 
Early Maturity 
Meat or Eggs, Which? 
The Exceptional Hen 
Treatment of Sick Hens 
Practice vs. Theorv 



CH AFTER 



The Question of Profits 



XI 



129 



73 
73 
76 

77 



78 

s, 
82 

83 
84 



91 
92 

94 

98 

100 

JOI 

102 



[05 



CHAPTER XII. 



Something about Patents 
Conclusion 



i'5 
11S 



THE&fDEAL 



THE IDEAL SPECIALTIES. 

THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK, 

By mail, postpaid, 75c. 

THE PLANS AND PERMIT FOR MAKING AND 

USING THE IDEAL TRAP NESTS 

AND ATTACHMENTS, 

Patented in the United States and Canada. 

BY MAIL POSTPAID, $2.00 

THE IDEAL TRAP ATTACHMENTS, (for those who 

prefer to buy them Ready-Made. ) Can be applied to any suitable box. 
One Attachment for a model, with each set of plans, free by mail. 

One extra Attachment by mail, postpaid, . . . 50c. 

Extra Attachments by express, charges paid by receiver, each, 25c. 

Twenty-five Attachments by express, . . $ 6.00 

Fifty, " ... $11.00 

One Hundred " ... $20.00 

These Attachments sold only to those who purchase the 
plans. The*/ are useless without them. 

THE IDEAL "SPECIAL" A model trap nest. A specially con- 
structed nest box, handsome in design and perfectly ventilated, combining 
in one nest all the most desirable features of trap nest construction. This 
model trap nest is not necessary in order to fit up from the PLANS, 
but is especially designed for those who want the best nest box for a 
model and are willing to pay for it. It costs a little more than some 
others, and is many times better. Made to order only. Sent by express, 
(cheaper than freight for small packages), charges paid by receiver. It 
does not weigh much, .... Price, $2.00 

WITH THE PLANS AND PERMIT, when ordered at the same 
time, ........ $3.00 




IHE IDEAL SPECIALTIES 

(CONTINUED). 

The Ideal Monthly Egg Record Blanks 

Sample for 2C stamp. Anyone can make them for themselves, 
but some prefer to buy them. Each sheet contains space for a 
complete month's individual egg record for twenty-five birds and 
remarks concerning their condition, feed, etc. Handsomely ruled 
and printed on good paper. PRICES GIVEN ON APPLICATION. 
State number required. Twelve sheets are sufficient for twenty-five 
birds one year. 

Ideal Aluminum Leg Bands 

Sample for 2 cent Stamp. 

These bands are obtained from the manu- 
facturer in the blank and are especially stamped 
for the trap nest user with numbers large enough 
to be seen with the naked eye. Any number or letters desired. 

All leg bands are claimed to "stay on," and so they will, -until 
they come off. A lost leg band often means a lost egg record with the 
trap-nest user. After losing a great many bauds of many different 
kinds, -over 90 out of 100 in two years, with one of the most popular 
bands on the market, -the Ideal Aluminum was thoroughly tested and 
adopted. It is the best band for the trap-nest user. It will stay on 
until purposely removed. The bird cannot get it off. These bands 
are light, handsome, (look like silver ) easy to put on, easy to take 
off and easy to read. Prices upon application. State Breed, num- 
ber for males and number for females. The more are ordered the 
cheaper they come. 

All About Broilers tSSSTlSSfi 

Second Edition Revised. 

Mr. Boyer has the reputation of being one of the leading au- 
thorities on these subjects. He believes that broiler raising in 
combination with other branches of Poultry farming is a profitable 
business, but as an exclusive business it is risky. This book ex- 
plains why. "All AbOUt Broilers" is written to show the novice just 
what to do and what not to do. The preface states that no theories 
are used, but every line is the record of experience. This book 
tells how to run incubators and brooders, how to fatten stock, how 
to feed laving stock, gives poultry house plans, etc. It is a valuable 
book at the low price of 25 cents. "All About Broilers and Market 
Poultry Generally" will be sent free with every order for Ideal 
Specialties to the amount of $3.00 or over, if this offer is mentioned 
when ordering. No mention, no book. Address all orders and 
correspondence to . . . 

F ft WFI I f ftMF TRAP NEST SPECIALIST, 
r. U. TTCLrLCUlTlC^ yarhoith, MAINE. 



THE 



"Beauty and Business 



J> J> SYSTEM OF * J> 



PEDIGREE RECORDS 



THE MOST COMPLETE, COMPACT AND 
CONVENIENT SYSTEM EVER DEVISED. 
AN INVALUABLE AID TO SCIENTIFIC 
BREEDING, WHETHER FANCY OR UTILITY. 

COMPLETE^-- Toe marks, date hatched, sire, dam, 
weight at 3, 4, 5 and 6 months, leg band, date 
of first egg f full egg record, how mated 
or disposed of, etc.- 



COMPACT.-- Full records of 15 breeding pens of 11 

fowls each, and of 1500 chicks in space 

3x3x5 inches. 

CONVENIENT.— No bothersome index, no useless 
pages, no skipping fr om book to book. The 
name or number of each pen in plain 
sight at all times. 



Descriptive Circular on request. 



BEECHER & BEECHER, 

BELLEVILLE, KANSAS. 
Proprietors "Beauty and Business" Poultry Yards. 






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